Life changing events
by MISCrasyaboutfanfics
Summary: Who Framed Rodger Rabbit-style AU. In the 1980s, a regular Toon named Annie has her life and her family's life changed by accepting a behind the scenes job on The Transformers. She soon meets the stars who prove to be good friends. Covers events from Christmas 1983 to the cancellation of The Transformers in 1987. Updates will be slow.
1. Chapter 1

Life changing events

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. Just my OCs.

Author's note: I was partially inspired by other fanfics for this "the Transformers are animated actors" story and hope that you enjoy reading this just as much as I love writing it. Admittedly, this isn't the best I've written but I am doing what research i can to keep things accurate to the time period as well make my OCs interesting.

December 25th, 1983

Dear journal,

Yesterday, I received the best news I had heard in a long time. I went to a job interview a few days ago for a position of onset mechanic for an upcoming television show about robots that turn into vehicles. It's not every day that a Toon gets a chance to work on a TV show as a behind the scenes person, let alone acting. I was never a good actor but I never really cared.

"Annie, that's exciting! You better tell Mackenzie and Colin." My sister Cathy told me over the phone. "They're going to be so excited."

"I know. Of course, I don't start until after the New Year begins but it's still great nonetheless." I admitted. Mackenzie is 6 and will be 7 in January while Colin is 8 going on 9 and his birthday is in March. We are not necessarily what I'd call poor; we live in a decent neighborhood of ToonTown and use coupons for most of our groceries when possible and I had already been making a good amount of money working at a nearby auto parts store but the idea of a job on a TV show, even if it was only behind the scenes, was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Perhaps I can raise Colin's and Mackenzie's allowance next year. Well, it's time to clean up the wrapping paper from the presents my kids got from their aunts, uncles and cousins who are visiting. I also have to get Christmas dinner cooked.

Sometimes I wish their father was still here; I curse whoever invented Dip when I think about his death but I know he'd be proud of me for how well I've done so far with taking care of two kids on my own. And now is not the time to be sad; it's a time to be excited about the future and the happiness that lies ahead.

(end journal entry.)

When she had woken up this morning, Annie White was still smiling at the news from yesterday as she showered and brushed her black hair, blinking the sleepiness from her brown eyes. She soon finished her personal grooming and got dressed in blue jeans and a red and green striped T-shirt. She slipped her new candy cane-pattern socks on along with her around the house shoes that were blue and white striped as she went back to her room. She thought about her kids and how excited her children would be when she finally told them about her new job.

Colin, who had blonde hair like his late father as well as blue eyes, was the one who had gotten up second. He was still wearing his pajamas with robots on them as he ran and woke up his family, including his two aunts, two uncles, and 3 cousins who were visiting and his little sister Mackenzie, who had black hair like her mother and was wearing plain blue pajamas.

By the time everyone had gotten up, Annie and her brother in law Eric, Cathy's husband, had cooked breakfast and had started cooking Christmas dinner and occasionally checking on it as the kids opened their presents.

Colin and Mackenzie's cousins were Aunt Sara's and Uncle Tom's daughter Ruby, who was a year older than Colin at 9 years old, and the twins Jessica and Kevin, who were Aunt Cathy and Uncle Eric's kids, were 5 years old. Ruby had red hair; the twins had brown hair. All 3 of them had blue eyes.

Mackenzie gave her cousins their presents, which were coloring books for the twins and a Barbie doll for Ruby, and gave her brother Colin a few Matchbox cars. Most of Mackenzie's own presents were also toy cars; her relatives knew she was a tomboy and that she had once mutilated the last Barbie she had been given but that incident was another story. Her uncle Tim, who had not been able to get time off for Christmas this year, had sent her a gift certificate to Toys R Us to get her own toys later.

All too soon it was time for dinner; Mackenzie sat between the twins so that they wouldn't fight with each other at the table in the kitchen while Ruby and Colin were on the other side of the table. The adults were eating on the front porch since it wasn't quite as cold as it could be in some places seeing as this was California where they lived. Then when the meal was over, everyone had gathered into the living room for an announcement from her mom.

All the kids screamed excitedly upon hearing the words "I got a new job working behind the scenes on the set of some television shows". That was even before Annie explained that she was going to be a mechanic for the stunt vehicles that would be used.

"That's so awesome!" Ruby shouted.

"What's behind the scenes mean?" Kevin asked.

"Well, it means she's not going to be an actress but she's going to still work on the show doing a different job, in this case auto mechanic like what she was doing before." Aunt Sara explained to her nephew.

The kids couldn't stop talking about it as they went to play outside; sure, there was no snow but they knew that the adults would not let them just watch TV like they usually would have. Mackenzie wondered if any of the Toon actors would treat her mom and the other show's crew members with respect; if they didn't, well, she'd be tempted to do some things would get her into a lot of trouble. Little did she know that her mom was in fact going to get some respect…

January 3rd, 1984

Optimus Prime drove up to the studio, slightly nervous about what would happen. Today was the first day of meeting with the writers to discuss the final script for the 3 part miniseries "More Than Meets the Eye". The meetings would last the rest of the week, then the next few weeks were rehearsals, and filming of The Transformers would start on February 1st. The rest of the series' first season would be filmed in March and April and premiere in ToonTown in July and nationally in September. Then, depending on how well the series did in both viewership and sale of the toys that the series was promoting, the second season would be much longer and would film starting in October.

It was a surprising that he had passed the auditions and had been chosen; Elita One had gone to support him but she would not audition; she would possibly get a guest appearance later in the series though. Optimus had been so nervous the whole time and as it turned out, many of the other robot Toons auditioning had also been nervous at first but once Ratchet insisted they all calm down and just give it their best shot, no one was quite as nervous. Some were cut but the final cast was 20 robots playing the Autobots, 16 who would be playing the Decepticons to start with though other characters would be introduced later. Also, there were two human Toons who would be playing the allies of the Autobots. Spike Witwicky and his father William Irving Witwicky, or "Sparkplug" as he was nicknamed, had been picked but Spike's mother hadn't wanted to be part of the series so it was decided that her absence would be left unexplained in show.

Optimus stopped, transformed into robot mode, and walked through the huge doors that were made for the sake of all of the robot stars of The Transformers and greeted everyone politely.

"Hey Optimus, you're just in time." One of the normal human production crew members said. "The writers are waiting; everyone else is already there."

And so, the long day began. Starscream personally thought that the idea of the anti-matter energon cubes in the episode to be titled "Roll For it" were ridiculous but, as Soundwave pointed out, the show did not have to follow real science since it was fiction. Ratchet was worried that someone would be dumb enough to hurt themselves on set but since he was a real doctor who just happened to also be playing one in fiction, the writers told him he could be on set medic for all the Toons when he wasn't filming any of his scenes.

After 2 hours, everyone went to get lunch as well as just walk around the rest of the studio. Optimus went towards the garage; some of the stunts the robots would do themselves but others were going to just use stunt cars for when vehicle mode was required in some scenes. He wanted to see if these cars had any resemblance to the vehicle modes himself and the rest of the cast had.

"Damn it, I thought I was going in the right direction to get back to where I need to be." A human Toon woman muttered.

Optimus looked down towards the black haired woman. "May I help you Miss?" he asked.

"I'm looking for the garage. It's Annie by the way." She explained, feeling nervous.

Perhaps she feels like this only because she was speaking to someone who would be a big star, the red and blue robot thought to himself. "I was heading towards there as well; would you like me to escort you Annie?" He asked.

"Yes, thank you Mr. Prime." She replied.

'You may just call me Optimus if you wish." Optimus lowered his hand so that she could sit in it. Annie climbed into it. She held on tightly as he lifted her up and walked towards the garage.

"I didn't expect to see anyone who's a star in the making out here." Annie admitted. "It's my first day of work and everything."

"It's my first official day of work as well." Optimus explained. He didn't think it was a big deal that he would be famous; after all, someday someone else might be more popular and he would be forgotten. "I think everyone is nervous today about how well of a job they are going to do overall but I do not think that anyone will do terribly as long as they keep focus on the task at hand and do their best."

"That's very reassuring, thank you Optimus." The single mom smiled.

As soon as they walked into the garage, Optimus set Annie down and sat down, making sure not to accidentally crush the stunt cars that were parked there. Some of the cars would be used on other shows besides The Transformers and those were being serviced today by Annie and at least 3 other mechanics. Sure, all 3 of her coworkers were men but they treated her well.

"I am curious about you Annie; what part of ToonTown do you live in?" Optimus asked.

"Well, I live on William Hannah Street and that has mostly human Toons and a few other animal Toons, mainly some dog, cat, rabbit, and a few other Toons that resemble pets living around me though they're a small percentage of the neighborhood's residents." She admitted. "I have a son, Colin, and a daughter, Mackenzie; they're at school right now though they really did not want to go back to school yesterday since they felt Christmas vacation was too short."

Optimus chuckled a little. "I can understand that; my own son has acted like that at times. Do you have a spouse?" He didn't realize he shouldn't have asked until he got the answer.

Putting on her work gloves in order to check a van's engine (said van would be used as a stunt vehicle for Ironhide), Annie simply answered "He died last year two weeks after my son's birthday. Dip laced bullets were used in a random shooting." She had a few tears on her face. "I still am not comfortable talking about it."

"My condolences to you for the loss of your husband." Optimus said. "I apologize for bringing up a bad memory."

"You didn't know; I can't blame you for that." She replied, wiping some tears off her face with a clean rag and popping the hood of the van. "I think he'd be impressed at how far I've come with taking care of the kids. Some of my friends thought I wouldn't be able to do it. "

Optimus smiled as he heard the woman talk about her family. "Are Mackenzie and Colin well behaved?"

"Most of the time but they're kids; they're going to make mistakes and get into trouble. I know Colin wants to be an actor too but Mackenzie thinks she wants to do something else for a career. I told them they could do whatever they want to when they're old enough." Annie checked her watch. "Wait a minute, I shouldn't be rambling on like this! You need to get back to whatever you were doing."

"Meetings with the script writers." Optimus corrected her. "Thank you for reminding me; perhaps we can get to know each other better?"

"Maybe; I think this may the start of the strangest friendship I've ever had." Annie laughed as she checked the oil in the van's engine. "I will see you around."

Optimus smiled and bid the human Toon goodbye as he left the garage. He thought he heard Sideswipe and Sunstreaker talking about the behind the scenes crew, Sunstreaker saying negative things about them and he sighed, shaking his head. This was going to be a stressful job but at least it was going to be a little bit more bearable…


	2. Chapter 2

Life changing events chapter 2

January 6th, 1984

Her first week of work had gone well; Annie was busy working on cars that were going to be used in future episodes of other Sunbow Productions cartoons; she only had an hour left of work now and earlier, she had eaten lunch with some of her human coworkers and had talked to Optimus again briefly; he had seemed to take it upon himself to check on her and the other humans working behind the scenes just to make sure everything was all right.

The human Toon looked up at Optimus, who had walked in again after the last meeting he had gone to for today, as she finished the vehicle she was working on and put the hood back down. "Hello Optimus. I'm just about done for the day; just got to make a minor repair to the brakes on another one of these and then I can go home."

"That is good hear." Optimus smiled. "I hope you do not have trouble getting home Annie."

"I've driven home in the rain many times; I think I'll be able to handle it well. Just got to be careful." Annie went over to the final vehicle she was working on for today, one of the stunt cars for Bumblebee, and began fixing the brakes. Next week, the stunt vehicles would be tested outside to see that they worked well while the cast of The Transformers was rehearsing inside for the scenes that would not be fights against Autobots and Decepticons.

Optimus soon had to leave but before he asked "Annie, Elita would like to invite you as well as Colin and Mackenzie for lunch on Sunday; would you like to come?"

"I'm honored; I would love to come. I just need directions to get to the Mecha District, that's where you live, correct?" Annie was smiling as she finished repairing the breaks.

"That is correct." The red and blue mech replied.

Annie got a pen and a pad of Post-It notes and wrote down the directions; it would be 15 minutes to drive from her home to the Prime household. "Thank you Optimus."

"You're welcome Annie; I will see you on Sunday. Do you have a phone number by the way?" He asked.

"I do; everyone but two families of the street I live on has a phone. My phone number's 555-6371." She replied as she got her things together.

Optimus quickly wrote that down on a bigger sheet of paper he was carrying with him. The two friends parted ways and soon Annie was driving home in her red car, a 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass sedan that had been a gift from her brother Tim, as the rain poured in buckets around her. She drove up to her friend Harold Hound's household; Mackenzie was friends with his youngest daughter Hailey while Colin preferred to play with his son Henry. The Hound family were all Toon hounds, not just having that as last name as was the case with Casey Cat, a human male Toon who lived across the street from them.

When she pulled up to the house, Annie saw the Hounds' oldest daughter Helen run in to tell her mom Hannah that Colin and Mackenzie had to leave. Everyone knew that the two human Toon siblings didn't want to leave though…

(Mackenzie's POV)

Mackenzie got her purple raincoat on and her boots, putting her shoes in her backpack afterwards while Colin got on his green raincoat and boots and took the black umbrella that they had to share as they bid their friends goodbye. They walked out to their mom's car and got into the backseat after Colin put the umbrella down.

"Seatbelts on please." Their mom said.

The kids got their seatbelts on and they drove less than five minutes to get home; they only lived one street away from the Hound family. They had no garage; just a car port with a metal roof to shelter the car but the house's front porch did have a roof and one specific section of the porch was to put rain gear to dry so Colin left the umbrella open and tied to the columns of the porch railing on the left side and he and Mackenzie put their coats on the two hooks by the front door with their boots going underneath it. The three members of the White family then went inside and everyone's bags were hung up on the hooks inside the front door on the right wall near the doorway to the kitchen.

"I am going to go shower and then I'll start making dinner; Colin, set the table, Mackenzie, please take the package of sliders out of the refrigerator and the French fries out of the freezer and put them on the counter." Was what was said to the kids next as their mom went to remove her greasy clothes and go to the upstairs bathroom.

Mackenzie wasn't too miserable, except for not being able to spend more time playing with Hailey and the fact that it was still raining. The weather forecast earlier in the day had called for a clear day on Saturday and on Sunday at least. She did what her mom had asked and then went into the living room and flipped through the TV channels. They got about 9 channels, sometimes 10, over their antenna. Thankfully, one of those channels was a channel that showed all cartoons all day seeing as ToonTown had its own channels in addition to ABC, FOX, NBC, CBS, and other such broadcast networks. Mackenzie stopped on the ToonTown News channel to see what kind of stories about hers and Colin's' favorite TV and movie Toon stars were being talked about.

Colin joined her as soon as he had set the table and their mom, now done with her shower and in clean clothes, began cooking the White Castle sliders and two pans of French fries. She also made a salad and set a pitcher of milk on the table.

"You know 'Kenzie, there's better things on than the news. Give me the remote." Colin said, faking a yawn.

"No, I got here first!" Mackenzie argued. "Besides, there's only 10 minutes left of this news broadcast once the commercials are over."

Colin grabbed the remote and flipped the channel over to the All Cartoons channel but Mackenzie went up to the TV set and pushed the buttons to change it back. They kept doing this shouting arguments over what was the better show on at the moment.

"Mackenzie Elizabeth White, Colin James White, turn the TV off now if you want to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy after you eat!" Their mom called to them.

Mackenzie immediately stopped hitting the buttons on the TV set, Colin turned off the TV with the remote and both went into the kitchen. A minute later, the food items that had been in the oven were set on the table and everyone sat down in their chairs.

"Mom, why can't we have a second TV set?" Colin asked.

"Because you need to save up your allowance for a year before we can get you your own." She replied. "Now I've got an announcement to make; one of my friends from work wants to invite me over for lunch on Sunday as well as both of you and I expect you to be on your best behavior while we are there."

"Do we have to dress up nicely?" Mackenzie wanted to know.

"No you do not; I do expect whatever clothes you wear to be clean though." Her mom said and then continued eating a bit more before speaking again. "We will have to be there by noon and we will return home by 3:00 p.m."

Everyone finished eating, then went into the living room to watch their two favorite game shows. The rain slowly stopped throughout the evening and by the time everyone went to bed, it was clear outside. Mackenzie took that as a sign of good things to come. Hopefully, she would be right…

January 8th, 1984

Elita One awoke early; Optimus still had his hands around her waist as they had been when they had first went to bed. She smiled; finally she would get to meet some of the other Toons that Optimus worked with. She thought Annie sounded like a very interesting person to meet and speaking of the human Toon, she would be here in about 4 hours. She turned herself over a little and began rubbing Optimus to wake him up. "Love, you might want to get up now." She whispered to him.

"I know dear; we have to prepare for our guests' arrival." Optimus replied, slowly waking up and briefly rubbing Elita's back in return. He kissed her and then both got out of bed.

The couple soon had breakfast and Hot Rod, their adopted son, soon joined them; he was reluctant about helping out but did so anyways since he knew better than to argue. About half an hour before the White family was to arrive, Elita found paper cups and plates and then 10 minutes before lunch started, she ordered pizza and rushed out to buy some soda from the grocery store. She returned just in time and saw that the 3 human Toons had parked their car close to the house.

Annie was smiling as she walked with Mackenzie and Colin to the front door. Elita came up to them and knelt down.

"Hello there; you must be Anne." The pink femme smiled. "I am Elita One, Optimus' wife."

"Actually, I prefer Annie. It's nice to meet you Elita." The young woman smiled as Elita opened the door and let her, Colin, and Mackenzie inside.

All 3 humans were amazed at how huge everything was; there was at least one door that led to a set of rooms that were made for smaller Toons that had to stay in the Prime household for a night or longer as well as a guest room for use by Optimus Prime's robot Toon costars for if they ever needed it.

Optimus had set some human sized chairs on top of his kitchen table as well as a card table for the White family to sit around. When they came into the kitchen, he greeted them. "Hello Annie."

"Hello Optimus." She replied. "This is Colin and this is Mackenzie. Her birthday is next Saturday, January 15th. Colin's birthday is about 2 months from now."

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Prime." Colin said politely. True, Optimus was not a star just yet but the young boy was still excited and doing his best to contain it.

Mackenzie on the other hand, couldn't quite contain her excitement. "Hi there!" She was bouncing a little.

"Mackenzie." Annie warned her daughter.

"Sorry Mom." She immediately stopped.

Optimus chuckled a little, amused by the young girl's reaction. "It is all right little one; I am happy to meet you as well. Would you and your brother like a tour while we are waiting for your pizza to arrive?"

"Yes!" This time both kids couldn't contain their excitement and were jumping up on down.

"Calm down children;" Elita said gently. "There's plenty to see."

As soon as Elita had taken the children on the impromptu tour, Annie was lifted up on to the top of Optimus' table and subsequently went to sit at the card table that was on top of it. "Thank you Optimus; I don't have to hurt my neck so much when looking at you."

"You're very welcome Annie; thank you for coming over as well." Optimus smiled at her as her prepared lunch for himself, Elita, and Hot Rod. Robot Toons for the most part could not eat the same kind of things that human Toons could but did have their own specialized fuel that was produced for them from oil, ink, and a few other things.

Soon the pizza had arrived and Elita returned with the human Toon children and Hot Rod. Annie divided up the pizza between herself and her children as well as the soda while the 3 members of the Prime family had their own fuel. Occasionally, they stopped eating long enough to talk about random things.

"Mackenzie, is there anything in particular you would like for your birthday?" Elita One asked the young girl.

The 7 year old brunette girl only had to think a moment. "I'd like a new bike; I had Colin's old bike for a long time but then someone stole it."

"Hmm, we will have to see what we can do." Optimus said thoughtfully.

Mackenzie grinned at the prospect of a new bike; maybe she could get a bike lock as well. She would have to wait and see what happened.

Soon it was time for Annie and the children to go home once they were done eating. They would take the leftover soda home with them and save it for Mackenzie's birthday. After bidding the Prime family goodbye, the human Toons were lifted down from the huge table and went to the car to drive home. Colin was carrying the bottle of soda.

"Hold on a minute." Hot Rod called after them. He gave the family 3 tickets. "These are my birthday present for Mackenzie and you guys; the Sunday after her birthday, my dad's co-stars, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe to be specific, are going to race other vehicles owned by Toons as well as sentient Toon vehicles for charity and he wants you to be there since he knows how much you love cars."

Mackenzie hugged Hot Rod's leg. "Thank you, this birthday weekend is going to be realy great for me!"

"I'm pretty excited too." Colin grinned; true, his love of race cars was not as huge as his sister's but it would be a great event to go to. The fact that Toons who were less fortunate would be helped by the proceeds from ticket sales was just as amazing as well.

Annie took the tickets from her children and got into the driver's seat of the family car. Mackenzie and Colin climbed into the backseat and soon they set off for home, looking forward to what would possibly be the most exciting thing that Mackenzie would experience, at least in her opinion.


	3. Chapter 3

Life changing events chapter 3

February 29th, 1984

Annie was hard at work as usual; last month, Mackenzie's birthday had been the best she had had and Optimus and Elita had gotten her a bicycle and a bike lock as well as helmet so that she could spend time riding around the neighborhood with Hailey. The charity race that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had been a part of was enjoyable; Mackenzie had cheered for the twins the entire time and they had thanked her for doing so when the race was over. Speaking of racing, on Mackenzie's actual birthday she had also gotten a toy racetrack to race her and Colin's toy cars on from her Uncle Tim, who had offered to have both of the kids visit him for a weekend during the summer.

Of course, Annie had said yes. She liked her brother and knew he would take good care of Mackenzie and Colin despite having no children of his own. This past month had gone well, except for Mackenzie getting into a fight at school with a bully, Jake Jaguar and his twin sister Jane. All 3 had been punished with in school suspension for 3 days, starting today, and no recess. Colin was being much better behaved, in an attempt to get his own TV. Time would tell whether that would work or not considering what had been said about his allowance needing to be saved up for a really long time, but Annie was glad that her son was being so responsible. His father would be so proud of him, she thought as she continued her work underneath a stunt car that would be used for Jazz's stunts.

Filming of outdoor scenes of the Transformers had been delayed by the weather and Rumble injuring himself when he had crashed his bike into a fence at home. His adopted father Soundwave hadn't scolded him; instead, he had been worried and had gotten him to the hospital as fast as possible. That had happened a few days ago; luckily, Rumble's injuries had been minor and he was now back on set and today, the weather was perfect for filming outside scenes, some of which would be filmed on the studio lot; tomorrow, they would travel to another area for other shots. Annie would be left behind since they would not need the stunt cars during tomorrow's filming but she would be working on some of the vehicle that were used on GI Joe while here.

When the day ended, Annie went to pick up her children, driving down the road at the correct speed limit when it happened. She ran out of gas, having forgotten to get some that morning. "Darn it." She went over to a call box to call a tow truck, trying to be aware of her surroundings at the same time. After making the call and explaining where she was, she waited. This had to be the worst thing that had happened today.

Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long for the tow truck to arrive and she got into the front seat of said truck as her car was attached to the tow hook. Annie recalled the last time an incident had happened to a car of hers; it had happened back in 1980, when Colin was 5 and Mackenzie was 3. Her original car, a Datsun, had crashed on a wet road during a rainstorm when she had been on her way to pick up the children from the Hound family's home with her husband Rick. While the two, that is Annie and her husband, had not been badly injured, their original family car was a total loss and had to be scrapped. That was when Tim had decided to give his sister the Oldsmobile she currently had as a birthday present a few months later in June. Of course, she had thanked him immensely and considered herself lucky.

Now that she had arrived at the gas station with the car, it had been detached form the tow hook and brought to a gas pump so that she could fill it up. After filling up the gas tank, she called Elita from a payphone inside the store; Colin and Mackenzie had been taken to the Prime family home today due to the fact that the Hound family had gone on an emergency trip to help Harold's sister when she needed help cleaning her home after said sister had not been able to do it herself due to being seriously ill.

"Hello." Elita said over the end of the line.

"Elita, it's Annie. I ran out of gas and that's why I'm going to be a bit late." Annie explained everything. "I should arrive in about 10 minutes though; I apologize for everything. You'd think I would have remembered to fill up the car this morning but I was in such a hurry that I forgot."

"It is all right Annie; I am glad it wasn't something worse." Elita replied. "Mackenzie and Colin are behaving at the moment so it is not a problem. I will see you when you arrive."

"Okay; I will be there soon." The Toon woman hung up the phone and then went back to her car, now fueled up and ready for the rest of the trip home...

March 1st, 1984

Today had gone perfectly normal compared to yesterday; Annie had gotten Mackenzie and Colin home the previous evening, they had eaten hot dogs, fruit salad, and instant mashed potatoes for dinner and had Jell-O for dessert before the two had to go to bed after doing their homework. Today, the children had gotten up on time and gotten on the school bus, much to Annie's relief. The Hound family would not return home until Sunday so this afternoon, Mackenzie and Colin would be home alone due to the fact that Elita would be out during errands and could not watch them; none of her siblings or siblings in law would be able to do so either.

It was perfectly normal for Toons to leave kids home alone if the oldest was reasonably old enough to watch them. Colin was almost 9 so he was considered old enough to look after his sister on his own; Annie was not worried about anything bad happening since the neighborhood her family resided in was one of the safest places in Toontown. Was she a little worried about them? Yes, she was but she had taught them what to do in an emergency and how to avoid danger so she was sure they would be fine.

Right now, Annie was hard at work working on the vehicles used in the GI Joe cartoon with her 3 coworkers and trying to keep her mind on her job. When she was able to go on her lunch break, she ate some lunch in the studio cafeteria and then was on her way back from the restroom after a 5 minute bathroom break when she was ran into a certain red and black robot Toon who would play a Decepticon.

Frenzy was not going to be in as many episodes of The Transformers as his brother was due to being camera shy. He still had to be there for tutoring. Both Frenzy and Rumble were about 11 years old but didn't seem to mind that in show, they would be millions of years old instead. "Hey Miss White, I need some help."

Annie was surprised to hear this; usually, it was only Optimus Prime who bothered talking to her, maybe Jazz, Bumblebee, or Thundercracker also doing so if they wanted to; everyone else seemed to out right ignore her or anyone else behind the scenes but at least tried to be polite if they had to talk to her, with the exception of Cliffjumper and Sunstreaker. Sideswipe always looked as though he was embarrassed at the way his twin was acting but the latter was too stubborn to change. Usually,in general though, the Toon stars would ask someone else for assistance.

"What is it Frenzy?" She asked politely.

"I'm having a little trouble with my math homework and I heard people saying you were good at math. Pre-algebra stuff" He replied, looking as though he was embarrassed at not having known it.

"Hmm, well, come on over here. I remember how to do this, I think." Annie tried to sound confident.

Once he had shown her the problem, Frenzy paid attention when the human Toon mechanic showed him what he had been doing wrong and how to do it correctly. "Oh, I get it now. Thanks Ms. White!" He was so enthusiastic and happy; it was quite the contrast to his onscreen persona, who probably wouldn't ask for help to begin with.

"You're welcome;" Annie returned to the garage and continued her work, going underneath another vehicle to make some repairs.

A few hours later at home, Mackenzie had gotten herself some leftover Jell-O from the previous night as a snack. It was orange Jell-O to be specific. She also ate some pretzels.

"Hey, let me have some!" Colin grabbed the bag of pretzels.

"Since when do you like pretzels?" Mackenzie argued. "You're only acting like this because next week will be your birthday.

"Yeah, and you're the one who got into trouble at school, not me." He had said this just to rub it in her face.

Mackenzie shoved her brother into the refrigerator and punched him in the face. "Sure, rub it in everyone's face how much you want to be a goody two shoes and get everything going your way! I'm going off to ride my bike." She let go of him.

"You can't; Mom said you're not allowed to until tomorrow." He retorted.

"Then I'll do all of my homework first and we'll see whose's the good one." Mackenzie's face was red with rage as she stomped up the stairs, then stuck her tongue out at Colin before running into her room and slamming the door behind her.

Colin groaned. "Little sisters." He muttered. "And Mom won't be home for another hour"

The blonde boy decided to do his homework as well, then he would start recording one of his shows. The family VCR had been a Christmas gift from Uncle Tim back in 1982 but it still worked fine thanks to next door neighbor Mrs. Gardner knowing how to repair said VCRs due to working at a store that specialized in that sort of thing and in video rentals.

Shaking the thoughts of said VCR from his head, Colin went into his own room; he would finish his homework first if it killed him.

Later that night, after coming home and making rice and steak for dinner, Annie had to deal with Colin and Mackenzie's next argument.

"Hey, you took my toothbrush!" Mackenzie shouted.

"No I didn't 'Kenzie; mine's the same color as yours." Colin had shouted back.

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Just give me the f**ing toothbrush!'

"Colin James White, we do not swear in this household! Brush your teeth and get down here." Annie called to them from her own bathroom; true, the master bathroom attached to her bedroom only had a shower and no bathtub to sit and relax in like the main bathroom did but a relaxing bath would be needed after this was dealt with...

"The reason why i don't want you swearing is because it makes you seem stupid and thoughtless."

That had been what Colin's mother said when he went downstairs with Mackenzie. They both had to listen to the lecture and Mackenzie was glaring at her brotherthe whole time.

"When you are 18 and not in my hearing range, it will be your decision on how you want to talk and act but for right now, I want you both to avoid using those terms, is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am." Both siblings said, looking at her and then glaring daggers at each other again.

"And Colin, do not mock others' misfortune. That's just as bad as doing whatever they did to get in trouble. Do you understand?" Annie asked her son.

"yes Mom." Colin replied, not wanting to listen to anymore lecturing.

"Good; now both of you get to bed and go to sleep. It's Friday tomorrow and you have a nice relaxing weekend to look forward to." Annie said.

Colin and Mackenzie went upstairs. "You know, we were both acting kind of stubborn."

"Yeah but I'm not apologizing." Mackenzie grumbled as she walked away and went into her room.

Colin did the same thing, turning off the light and getting under his blankets once he had closed the door to his room. What is with you sis, he thought, I wish something would make you stop acting like that...

March 5th, 1984

This weekend had been much better; Mackenzie had apologized to Colin and he had done the same. On Friday, when they had gone to Optimus Prime's home again, this time for a Friday night dinner that was being held in honor of Hot Rod's birthday that day, Colin had asked Optimus "Why are people so stubborn?"

"Is there a particular reason why you wish to know?" he had replied.

Once Colin had explained the arguing and how he just wanted Mackenzie to freaking apologize already, The red and blue robot Toon had said that maybe he should apologize first to show that he was sincere in wanting to make it up; maybe Mackenzie wouldn't apologize right away but would eventually. The boy had done that on Saturday afternoon but she didn't accept his apologize until today when they had gotten up to get breakfast.

"So, Haley and Henry are home now; you want to go over and play with them after school like usual?" Mackenzie asked.

"Sure; why not?" Colin was excited at this prospect; not more excited than he was about his birthday in 3 days and his party the coming weekend, but it was still exciting nonetheless. This was going to be a great week...

When she had gotten to work, Annie did not expect for a phone call to be for her when she arrived in teh garage. She took the phone from her supervisor and immediately dropped it in shock.

"There's been an accident; the schoolbus your children were riding crashed in a major intersection. They're among those injured..." the principal was saying.

Annie did not hear the rest of it; she was too shocked to hear it. I can't lose them, I just can't, she thought as she hung up the phone after getting the name of the hospital. It was Toontown Children's hospital that she would have to go to.

"Annie, you go be with your kids and take the day off." was what she was told when she explained the situation.

"Thank you." Annie immediately ran out ot her own car, gott in, and sped off.

When she arrived, she was surprised to see Ratchet there, standing outside the door waiting for her.

"I didn't realize you worked here."

"it's a part time job; I was called in this morning to help with the response." he answered as he knelt down to talk to her.

"Are you allowed to tell me what my children's conditions are?" The Toon human demanded to know.

"Mackenzie is fine; she only had minor injuries; you will have to go in and find out who is treating Colin." Ratchet tried his best to keep calm; this was a common sight, parents freaking out and worrying. He had seen other parents of the kids who were on the bus reacting the same way. "Do not panic Ms. White; your chldren are in good hands."

Annie immediately ran inside after making sure her car's parking break was on and that it was locked.

In the waiting room was Mackenzie, holding an ice pack on her arm as it was bruised but not fractured. She looked as though she had been crying the whole time.

"Mom, thank Walt Disney you're here!" Mackenzie got up, the relief on her face immediate. It only lasted momentarily though as she immediately asked "is Colin going to die?"

"I don't think so sweetie; I'm trying to find out exactly what's going on." Annie reassured her daughter as she hugged her. Both went up to the reception desk; they would have to wait for an update on Colin's condition. He was severely injured, though not fatally, but that was all that was now known to his family members.

Annie sat down in a chair, Mackenzie climbing onto her lap and burying her face in her mother's neck as she sobbed. it was going to be a long agonizing wait...

At home later that day, Optimus got a phone call from Annie. He had heard what had happened to Colin and Mackenzie and was as worried for them as he would have been if Hot Rod had gotten seriously injured.

"Colin probably won't wake up for a few days; he's got serious internal bruising and both of his legs are broken. He'll live thankfully." She explained. "Mackenzie's physically okay but we're both still worried."

"That is good that Colin will be all right; I hope reporters have not been bothering you." Optimus replied.

"No; I have not been asked to talk to them." She paused. "Mackenzie and I are going to go home so that she can get some sleep. It's the only thing I can do."

"Annie, are you sure you will be all right?" Optimus asked.

"i think I will be; there's just some things I can't talk about over the phone." She answered, the sound of her sobbing being heard afterwards.

"We can talk during lunchtime if you wish; if you do not want to talk about it, I will understand completely." Optimus assured his friend.

"Thank you; I will see you tomorrow." The phone was hung up on the other end and Optimus hung up his phone shortly afterwards.

"Dad, what's going on with the White family?" Hot Rod asked.

"I will tell you once your mother is done with her shower." was the reply given.

As soon as Elita was out of the shower, Optimus updated her and Hot Rod on Colin's current state.

"Such a shame that something like this had to happen; I hope the other children who were injured are going to be okay. " Elita One sighed sadly. "How is Annie taking the news?"

"She is trying her best to stay strong for Mackenzie but it seems as though she is having a difficult time doing so." Optimus wished he could do something other than talking to his dear friend but he wasn't sure that he could. Time would tell what would happen with her oldest child but for everyone's sake, the red and blue Toon robot hoped that Colin would pull through...


	4. Chapter 4

Life changing events chapter 4

Author's note: Thank you to those who have favorited and followed this story so far. I'm not quite exactly sure how long this fan fiction will end up being but I do plan on finishing this story even if it's difficult to do so.

March 8th, 1984

Colin blinked; it took him a few moments to realize where he was. His room was not plain white on the walls, that's all he knew for sure.

"Colin honey, I'm over here." He heard someone saying.

The boy turned around; he immediately recognized his mother and his sister. "What time is it and where am I?"

"It's 4:11 p.m. and you're recovering in the hospital." Mackenzie replied; it was obvious that she had been so relieved to see him. "Happy Birthday by the way."

"It's my birthday already?" Colin was confused.

"You were in a coma for 3 days." His mother replied, fresh tears running down her face. "I'm just so glad you're okay though."

It was then that Colin remembered the events leading up to the bus crash; he could remember seeing various Toon kids flying everywhere in particular. It had been a scary thing. "Do you think I could ride my bike to school when I go back?"

"Once your injuries have completely healed, yes." A Toon gorilla nurse came into the room to give him his medication and answered his question after hearing it. She seemed like the no-nonsense type of person.

Though he couldn't' move, Colin was now able to see that both of his legs had casts on them. "How many weeks until then?"

"Probably about a month or two give or take a few days." The nurse replied.

2 months; that seemed like an eternity at the moment. He didn't quite hear the nurse or the doctor, who had just walked in, explaining how far he had come since first being admitted to the hospital but he heard something along the lines of he would be able to go home on Tuesday and he would have to sleep downstairs until he could walk again. That wouldn't be too much of an issue; it just meant that he would have to have Mackenzie bring his toys and books downstairs if he wanted them. It still sucked not being able to have a birthday cake or his presents though. A least his class had sent him get well cards, which Mackenzie was now showing to him.

"Did you get my homework?" He asked.

"Yeah;' your teacher gave me your homework for this week; he said take as long as you need to to complete it." She replied. "By the way, Mom's rescheduling your birthday party for Saint Patrick's Day, which means you'll get to have green frosted cake."

As good as cake sounded, Colin wasn't very hungry at the moment. He just wanted to go home as soon as he could.

"Be patient Colin; you'll recover slowly but surely and it will go faster than you think." His mother told him. "Visiting hours are almost over so Mackenzie and I have to leave; we'll be back tomorrow after school's over."

Colin said goodbye reluctantly as he got a new IV line put into him; god did that hurt. And now two more nurses were coming in to lift him into the bathtub in the bathroom attached to this room and give him a bath/treat any bedsores. This was going to suck but at least his family was there for him. He wondered whether Optimus or Elita would visit tomorrow…

March 12th, 1984

Finally, Colin would be coming home. Mackenzie was excited about this; he would spend the rest of the day resting and she would play with him if he wanted her to; he could pick the TV show if he wanted to watch afternoon shows that came on on the weekdays. For now though, she was still stuck in school. She had gotten all of her brother's homework for him but Mackenzie was still wondering if the get well cards really would help that much.

Colin had gotten a get-well card from Optimus and yesterday, he had gotten a visit from Wonder Woman, one of the stars of Superfriends and she had been just as nice and loving as she was in the comics and on TV. At least, in Mackenzie's opinion, that seemed to be the case. She had even given both kids her autograph and posed for a picture, which the siblings' mother had taken.

"Mackenzie, pay attention!" her teacher called out.

Mackenzie was pulled from her thoughts about recent events and tried her best to do what she needed to do for the rest of the school day; it was the hardest thing in her opinion just because of her distractions.

Soon enough, the final bell rang and Mackenzie walked with Hailey to the bus.

""Henry wanted to know if he can come over tomorrow." The Toon hound was explaining as they took their seats. They weren't scared of being on the bus just because of the past accident; only a few of the kids were so they were being picked up by their parents today.

"I'm sure Mom and Colin won't mind; I'd have to ask first and then call later and let him know." Mackenzie replied.

"That would be great if you could." Hailey was now panting with excitement, her purple bow almost falling off her head.

"Calm down sis." Henry said as he sat in the seat in front of them. "If they say no, I'm not going to be that upset."

"I know but still…"

Hailey and Henry continued talking to each other while Mackenzie stared out the window, watching everything going by. She saw a billboard advertising The Transformers, specifically about a documentary that would air in 3 parts. The first part would air at the end of this month; the second part would air in April, and the 3rd part would air in May with all 3 parts being rerun in the last week of June before the premiere of the actual series during the first weekend of July. That would be interesting to see how the finished first season of the show would turn out…

When Annie had talked to Soundwave and Optimus the day after the accident, she felt much better afterwards. In her opinion, it helped that Soundwave himself was a single parent; he had been raising Rumble and Frenzy on his own for 3 years in addition to his four so called pets Ravage, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and Ratbat. Today though, she was much better composed as she wheeled Colin into the kitchen so that she could finish making the bed in the downstairs guest room; it would be his sleeping space until his injuries healed.

"Hi Mom." Mackenzie walked inside and hung up her backpack. "Colin's homework is up in my room if he wants me to get it for him."

"I don't want to do homework right now; I just want a snack." Colin replied.

"Well, I guess I could get you a snack big brother." Mackenzie tried not to laugh as she dug some Jell-O Pudding Pops out of the freezer. They were Colin's favorite and Annie had specifically gotten that among the snack foods she was buying when grocery shopping last night. There were healthier food and drink items too of course but a small treat once in a while wouldn't hurt either Colin or Mackenzie

As she finished making the bed, Annie got a phone call from Optimus. "hello?" she asked.

"Hello Annie; Elita and I were wondering if we could drop off Colin's birthday present on Friday so that we won't forget. We will not be able to attend his party as we did Mackenzie's party unfortunately." He explained. "I am going to visit my father Alpha Trion this coming weekend."

"You can drop it off on Friday; don't worry. I'm sure Colin will love the gift and understand completely." Annie smiled. "I hope your visit with your father goes well."

"Thank you Annie; I will see you tomorrow."

The phone was hung up and soon the nurse that would be coming over every weekday afternoon to help care for Colin, Nurse Johnson, arrived. She had red hair but wasn't wearing what would be impractical for real life nurses to where; instead, she was wearing more professional clothes and was now set to work on helping Colin in the bathroom next to the downstairs guest room.

Annie in the meanwhile started cooking some hot dogs, mashed potatoes, and peas. True, Mackenzie was a picky eater and probably wouldn't touch the last thing but Colin loved vegetables just as much as he loved any other type of food and would probably eat most of them. She then set the table, as Mackenzie had now gone upstairs to do her homework; she didn't have very much said homework to do thankfully but Colin would have quite a bit to catch up on.

Later that evening after dinner and after Nurse Johnson had gotten Colin into bed and left for the night, Annie went to see if Mackenzie was in bed upstairs. Thankfully, she was in bed, just still awake.

"Hey Mom, can you tell me about when I was born and how Colin reacted to it?" She asked.

The Toon human mom smiled a little. "You've heard this story before but I suppose I can tell you it again since you're not too old for bed time stories yet." She began to tell the story. "It was a cold rainy January day..."

(POV switch, a few days later)

March 15th, 1984

Rumble and Frenzy were keeping up with their school work and studying the scripts for the last 3 episodes that would have to be filmed for The Transformers season 1. The work day at the studio had ended an hour ago and they had already had an after school snack. Soundwave on the other hand was feeding Ravage; he had already fed Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and Ratbat and had gotten dinner made for himself and his sons. Now to look thought the mail.

Soundwave didn't talk in a monotone voice when off camera; that was something that would surely shock Toon viewers if they ever met him in person, which, in a sense was amusing to him. He could speak normally and react with surprise; he had casually asked Annie the previous day about whether Rumble and Frenzy could come to her son's late birthday party since they wanted to meet him after realizing the age gap between them wasn't a huge one. Now, here the invitation was, right on top of the pile of bills and junk mail.

"Hey Dad, I'm done practicing my lines for the day-what's that?" Rumble asked.

"Get Frenzy and I will tell you." was the reply the preteen robot Toon got from his father.

Once Frenzy and Rumble were in the living room, Soundwave handed them the invitation. It said:

 _You are invited to the birthday party of Colin James White. Location: 54 William Hannah Street, Toontown, U.S.A. RSVP by calling 555-6371_

"We can go? Awesome!" Rumble was now jumping up and down with excitement;

"Wait, what do we get him as a present?" Frenzy asked.

"Call Ms. White and find out for yourself." Soundwave answered. He would pay the bills tomorrow then go out shopping for a gift for his coworker's son. The child deserved a great gift after having had to suffer the injuries that he had gotten.

Frenzy dialed the phone number on the invitation and waited for someone to pick up. He didn't have to wait long.

"Hello, this is the White household." said an adult woman.

"Hey Miss White, it's Frenzy. Rumble and I can come to Colin's party." He said.

"That's great; is there anything you wanted to ask about it?" Ms. White replied.

"Well, what kind of toys does he like?" Frenzy waited patiently for an answer.

After a few moments, he got it when Ms. White told him "Colin would like a new video game, an Atari one to be specific."

"Okay; we'll see you tomorrow at work; bye." The red robot Toon kid hung up the phone and went to inform his family of what the birthday boy wanted. Soundwave told him that they could get it tomorrow after supper.

When they went to bed that night, Frenzy and Rumble had a hard time getting to sleep because they were so excited. Also, what wold Colin think of whatever video game they got? That was the biggest question but the two preteen brothers hoped that he would like whatever game they got for him.


	5. Chapter 5

Life changing events chapter 5

Author's note: I decided to make Buzzsaw and Laserbeak female because I wanted to see if I could write them that way. Also, I am looking for a beta reader; if you're interested, please Private Message me.

March 17th, 1984

Colin wasn't complaining about celebrating his birthday late; in fact, he was glad that it was being celebrated at all. True, there was some Saint Patrick's Day related party games his mom had come up with ("pin the hat on the leprechaun" was one example) because of the date that it was but everyone seemed to enjoy them.

His sister, mom, and classmates were here and so were soon to be Toon stars Rumble and Frenzy. They seemed to be enjoying it though. Colin was too; even though his mom had to wheel him around for now, he knew that it probably wouldn't be that long until he was walking around again. May 5th was the day he would be getting both casts off his legs; it was less than 2 months away, still a long time, but he had a lot to keep him busy and his late birthday party was just one of those things he liked to have to distract him.

After he had opened his presents, Colin asked his mom if everyone could eat lunch and then play games before having his cake.

"I think that would be a great idea." His mom smiled. "Time for lunch everyone!"

All the guests, Colin's 17 classmates plus Rumble and Frenzy, went to the table, glad to get the chance to eat.

(Annie's POV)

After lunch was over, everyone started playing games. Annie smiled at the goings on. Colin would love the present his uncle would be getting for him in a few days just as much as he loved the others. He especially loved the Pacman game that Rumble and Frenzy had given him and was now playing it, occasionally he let one of his friends have a turn with the game. Even if he was the birthday boy, he wanted to be fair to everyone.

"Mom, how long until we can have the cake?" Mackenzie asked.

"Ask your brother dear; he's the birthday boy." She replied.

Mackenzie went over to where Colin was sitting and Annie got a few dessert plates and bowls out of the cupboard.

"He said he wants cake now." Mackenzie had come back to help carry plates and bowls outside to the picnic table in the backyard; that picnic table had been a gift from her and Colin's grandparents and it had been delivered a few days ago.

As soon as those things were brought out, Annie called everyone to come outside and the party guests went out the back door. Annie lifted her son out of his wheelchair and Rumble and Frenzy came back to bring said wheelchair itself down the back steps. Once outside, Colin was lifted back into his wheelchair and was brought over to one end of the table.

Finally, Annie brought the cake outside. It was a vanilla flavored cake with light green frosting on it and in darker green frosting on the middle of the cake were the words "Happy 9th birthday Colin". She then put the candles on the cake and lit them with a match. She blew the flame of the match out and led everyone in singing 'Happy Birthday". After they were done singing, Colin blew out the candles and then they were removed from the cake.

"Okay; I'm taking the candles in and I'll be back with the ice cream and a knife to cut the cake with." Annie said as she went into the house.

The kids, all a mix of human Toons or animal Toons in addition to the two soon to be robot Toon stars, cheered. Rumble and Frenzy could not actually eat cake but they didn't feel too bad about it.

When Annie returned with two cartons of ice cream, one vanilla and one chocolate, as well as an ice cream scoop and a knife to slice the cake, everyone tried to be patient while she served everyone, starting of course with Colin. Later when everyone was done eating, Mackenzie handed them party favors, which were bags of small toys such as yo-yos and marbles, a few pencils, small boxes of crayons, and gift certificates to a rollerskating rink two blocks away.

"That was a fun party." Colin was smiling 15 minutes later while his mother and sister cleaned up the backyard and put the leftover chocolate ice cream back in the freezer (everyone who could eat it had eaten all the vanilla ice cream and the cake). Frenzy and Rumble were the only two guests who hadn't left yet and they had volunteered to clean up the wrapping paper that was on the floor in the living room.

When the two robot Toons returned outdoors, Frenzy looked around. "Darn, our dad isn't here yet."

"He'll be here soon." Annie assured the red robot.

Two minutes later, Soundwave showed up to take his sons home. Annie talked with him for a few minutes and it was agreed that as soon as Colin was completely back on his feet in May, he could go over and play with Rumble and Frenzy one weekend.

"Bye guys; see you soon." Colin waved as the 3 robot Toons walked towards their own home.

Annie got Colin inside the house then went back for his wheelchair after Mackenzie went inside. As soon as he was back in said wheelchair, Colin turned the wheels into the living room

"Hey Mom, can we watch the Saturday night movie tonight?" He asked.

"We can; you just got to wait a few more hours before it starts." She answered as she washed off the dishes that needed to be washed. Today had been a huge success and another step taken on Colin's road to recovery. He would be there sooner than he realized...

May 5th, 1984

Over the past two months, Colin had slowly learned to walk again as he healed. This morning, he had gotten both casts off his legs and while still weakened somewhat, he could now at least walk around. It would be a few more days before he was allowed to run or ride his bike though. At least today he would be going to play with Rumble and Frenzy at their house.

Filming for the first season of The Transformers was long since over and the stars of the show had finished filming commercials and promos for Toontown and for the various human TV stations that would syndicate the series. It's Toontown premiere had been moved up to June 2nd, the day after Colin and Mackenzie got out of school for the summer due to the Toon audience expressing a desire to see it as soon as possible.. That was something that was exciting to look forward to.

Over the past few weeks, Colin had not only been visited at home by Optimus and his family and Soundwave and his family but had also gotten visited by Bumblebee, Skywarp and Thundercracker, Mirage, Ratchet, and even Megatron, who was quite polite and nice to everyone in real life, much like most of the other robot Toons playing the Decepticons. Mackenzie had expressed a wish to go flying with Thundercracker one day to which Mom had replied "We'll see if that will happen.". In other words, it wasn't likely.

Colin had also been visited by Lancer and Greenlight, two robot Toon females who were friends of Elita's, as well as visited by Firestar, Chromia, and Moonracer who wanted his mom to spend a ladies' day out with them one day. Moonracer herself expressed a wish to babysit Colin and Mackenzie since she would often babysit various Toons in general as a way of making money.

"Colin, it's almost time for you to go." Mackenzie reminded her brother as she walked into his room.

Colin turned off the TV in his room; that had been the present his uncle had given him a few days after his late birthday party. Needless to say, Colin had cheered when it arrived and his mom carried it upstairs and hooked everything up for him. Now that he could go up and down stairs again, the young boy had brought his Atari up to his room so that his sister could watch her cartoons downstairs without waiting for him to finish a video game level.

Soon Colin had come downstairs, ready to go. While he was playing with Rumble and Frenzy, Mackenzie would be with Mom having "mother daughter time" by going window shopping and getting ice cream for a snack later. Tonight though, all 3 members of the family would be spending time together and having KFC chicken for supper since today was considered a special occasion.

"All right you two; into the car." Their mother said.

The two Toon kids climbed into the back seat of the Oldsmobile and put their seat belts on; Colin saw Mom get into the front seat after she locked the front and back doors of their house. Then they were on their way.

As soon as he saw Soundwave's home, Colin was thrilled more than anything else. Rumble and Frenzy were right outside waiting for him as was Ravage, who was snarling at the appearance of 3 strange Toons.

"Easy Ravage; they're friends." Rumble said.

Colin got out of the car. The young boy's mother began speaking to Soundwave when he walked over while Ravage came closer, sniffing said boy.

"Hey Colin, I think he actually likes you now that he knows you're not a threat." Frenzy said. "Rub the top of his head; he likes that."

When Colin began doing so, Ravage started purring contently. All would go well it seemed...

(POV switch to Rumble)

When Colin came into the house, with Ravage following him, Rumble and Frenzy immediately took him on a tour. Needless to say, the human Toon boy was thrilled and excited. Not because he was meeting soon to be TV stars and seeing where they lived but because he could play with someone without his little sister around for once. It would be fun see what other video games Colin would like to play.

"If Laserbeak or Buzzsaw swoops down on you, they're just being protective of what they consider to be their territory and nesting space." Rumble explained.

"Wait, you mean they're both girls?" Colin was confused.

"Yes; they don't seem to mind that they'll be playing the opposite gender though since it's hard to tell which one they are anyway if you don't look Transformers is supposed to be a series just for boys after all and they can convincingly play guys just fine." Frenzy answered, amused by the 9 year old boy's reaction.

On cue, Buzzsaw swooped overhead. She seemed to be glaring at the 3 Toon boys until they moved into the living room to start their video game tournament.

"Okay Colin, we've got Pacman, 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe, Adventure, and Battlezone. Those are all the games we have right now but we're going to buy more as soon as we get paid again." Rumble said.

"I don't have Battlezone and my friend Henry doesn't either; can I play that one first?" Colin asked.

"Sure you can; you're our guest after all." the blue robot Toon replied.

And thus began the two hour impromptu tournament. Once one of the 3 got a "game over", it would be the next person's turn. It was only fair after all. Once Colin got Game over, Rumble was now playing and trying his hardest to focus. Somehow it was easier to pay attention to directions on set than it was to fight virtual enemies.

"My turn!" Frenzy shouted once Rumble got distracted by his thoughts and got a game over.

Rumble handed over the controller to his twin brother. He had a feeling that this afternoon would go by way too quickly...


	6. Chapter 6

Life changing events chapter 6

Author's note: I'm going to switch to focusing on one of my other unfinished stories so that I can get that complete and then only have two fan fics to work on. Still waiting for someone to take up the offer of being beta reader and for actual reviews but I am a patient person so no need to rush anything.

(Journal entry from Annie)

May 5th, 1984

It's evening now and very quiet at my house but that's a good thing since I had a tiny bit of unwanted excitement earlier. While Colin played with Rumble and Frenzy, I took Mackenzie window shopping, after promising her she could look around the toy store and that we would not just be looking at clothes. Needless to say, I got scared when she wandered away to the arcade without telling me; apparently, she had followed someone who looked like me from the back without checking to see who it was but I reminded her to use better judgement next time and that she was lucky she did not end up like Adam Walsh, a human boy who was abducted from a mall 3 years ago and killed. I had heard about that story a few days before when a human crew member of the show Jem, who had moved here from Florida, told me about it during a break in filming and how big the news had been since something like that did not happen often. I was terrified of that story and of the one I was told next; it was about the disappearance of Etan Patz, who has still yet to be found after disappearing on his way to school back in 1979.

I know I normally don't worry about my kids since I have allowed them to go to the playground, convenience store, and the free standing Toontown Video Arcade location alone and they always know how to look out for each other and themselves but today, I was sorely tempted to be more strict with them from that point on. What good would that do though? The only way to teach them how to be careful is just to let them know that they could be severely punished or worse and hope that they listen. Nothing like the two stories I heard had ever happened in Toontown so I simply took Mackenzie for ice cream now that I had found her after 15 minutes of searching.

When we arrived at Soundwave's home to pick up Colin, he complained about having to go home.

"Son, I'm sure you'll be able to come over again or that Rumble and Frenzy will be able to come to our house again." I said. "And if you don't leave, you won't be able to come back."

"Oh yeah, i knew that." He waved goodbye to his friends and got into the back seat next to his sister.

Once we were home after getting our meal from KFC, we brought the food in and ate it. Colin hates coleslaw so Mackenzie ate his share but all of us had the chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits, and corn. They are currently watching _Sleeping Beauty_ in the living room while I'm upstairs writing this. Well, I hope I don't have to worry too much about what will happen this summer.

(end journal entry)

May 10th, 1984

Optimus was glad to not have to be at the studio all day today; he had completed filming about half the promos they wanted to use his voice for and had been given a break for this week; next week, he would record the others. He knew Annie was still at the studio, fixing wheeled vehicles that would be used in other shows and getting training to be able to know how to fix the stunt planes that would be used next season for doing the Seekers' stunts. Hot Rod was off with his friends so that left him and Elita time alone.

"I am glad they are finally giving you a break Optimus." Elita said as she washed dishes.

"I am glad as well; it's tougher work being a TV star than most would think it would be. It will be worth it in the end though since I did have some fun on set." He said smiling to himself as he finished cleaning the counter off.

"You said you were going to tell me about when Sunstreaker pulled a prank on the director. I want to hear the details." Elita finished washing dishes and wrapped her arms around Optimus.

In turn, the red and blue robot Toon kissed her. "I think you will have to earn the right to hear it, beloved." He said in a low tone of voice meant to sound sexy.

They soon moved to the hallway, then their bedroom to continue their activities. No, the details can not be given or the rating will have to be changed and the story of Sunstreaker's prank will have to be left to the imagination. Either way, Elita enjoyed the story once she was told what had happened and started laughing.

"Sunstreaker is very lucky he wasn't fired." the pink robot Toon remarked.

"Indeed; the director does seem to have a good sense of humor." Optimus was smiling at the memory. This had been good time to spend with Elita, he thought, maybe a nap would be good.

The nap never happened due to the phone ringing. Elita got up, making sure she looked decent and that everything was in place then ran downstairs to grab said phone. "Hello?"

"Elita, it's me Annie. I was asked on a date by someone I work with and I'm nervous about what to do. The date is on Saturday night" Annie said.

"Oh, who is it?" The pink robot Toon asked.

"It's Phil, one of the other mechanics for the stunt vehicles. I'm sort of friends with him and I had a crush on him for a while but I don't know if he's just doing this to humor me or if he likes me back." Annie admitted. "Also, I have no idea what to wear for the date; it's on Saturday night so I'll have to ask Moonracer if she can watch Colin and Mackenzie."

"Do not worry Annie; just calm down and take things slowly first of all." Elita replied. "Second, it doesn't matter what you wear as long as it looks decent. I'm sure Phil will love whatever you wear. Also, I am sure Moonracer will be happy to watch your children for you. Colin and Mackenzie are capable of behaving themselves."

"Thank you." Annie sounded more calm now. "Were you this nervous when you first dated Optimus?"

"I was actually; just be yourself and give him a chance." Elita replied. "Is there anything else you want to ask?"

"Not anything I can say over the phone; could you stop by tomorrow night?" her friend asked.

"I can actually; I will see you tomorrow evening."

"See you tomorrow. Goodbye Elita." Annie replied before hanging up the phone.

Elita hung up the phone and when Optimus asked, she just replied. "It's female things that Annie wanted to ask me about."

"Ah, I see." Optimus knew better than to ask for specifics. Still, it was good to see that someone that they considered a family friend felt she could talk to them about anything.

(May 12th, 1984)

Mackenzie wasn't sure what to think of Phil; he was a nice guy true but she was still wary. Didn't anyone besides herself and Colin know that their Dad couldn't be replaced?

"Hey 'Kenzie, Moonracer's here!" Colin distracted her from her thoughts.

Phil politely bid the two kids goodbye as did their mother. Mackenzie and Colin walked outside to where Moonracer had parked herself in altmode.

"Hello Colin and Mackenzie." Moonracer's voice said from the radio as the two got in the back seat and buckled up once their bags were put on the seat between them. "Nice to see you two again."

"Nice to see you too." Colin said while Mackenzie didn't say anything as she wasn't in the mood for talking. It was rare for the two siblings to stay anywhere overnight besides with their relatives or with the Hound family.

"Don't glare sis; it will be fun having Moonracer watch us." The blonde Toon boy pointed out as Moonracer started driving.

"I know; I'm just worried about Mom and whether she'll be okay." Mackenzie admitted.

"Hey, once we get to know Phil better he might turn out to be really great." Colin tried to be optimistic about the situation.

"Yeah, maybe. I guess I never thought of it that way. I just feel like she's trying to replace Dad when she really can't" The young Toon girl, more than anything else, seemed to be afraid of this particular change of her mother dating anyone since for a long time that wasn't the case.

"I'm 100 percent sure that that's not the case." Moonracer assured Mackenzie. "Oh good, we're here!" She seemed excited but not overly so.

Mackenzie and Colin got out and took their bags up to the front door. Once Moonracer was back in robot mode, she opened the front door for the two smaller Toons so that they could put their stuff in the guest room meant for human Toons.

"Hey Moon, do you have any board games?" Colin asked.

"Sure I do; why don't we play some Monopoly?" Moonracer suggested.

Mackenzie stopped feeling miserable upon hearing that. Monopoly was her favorite board game after all. "Yeah, i want to be the car!"

"I'm going to be the dog." Colin declared.

"I suppose I can be the horse then since that's my favorite piec.e " The bluish green Toon robot got the game out of the closet. "I think I'll have to have Mackenzie move my piece though."

"That means I'm going to be the banker." Colin immediately started setting up the game.

Moonracer smiled at the two children; someday she would have kids of her own but not now. She knew that they would be okay for the night...


	7. Chapter 7

Life changing events chapter 7

May 19th, 1984

This Saturday, there was no need to worry about anything. Annie's first date with Phil had gone well and last night had been their second date. She was surprised that he was understanding about her wanting to take things slow and next weekend, he wanted to go with her to take Colin and Mackenzie to the Toontown Carnival, partially to have fun together as a family but also to assure the two kids that he was willing to consider what they liked. Optimus would be making an appearance there to answer questions about The Transformers series and toys and to sign autographs, along with Jazz, Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream, and Soundwave.

Today though was a day when her kids wanted to go off to the arcade on their bikes; Rumble and Frenzy wanted to meet them there to play the games there and they wanted to see how good Mackenzie was since she had played a few of the home versions of those games with Colin after he bragged that there was no way she could get better than him as a way of making her want to play. Needless to say, it worked and Mackenzie was putting on her bike helmet after Colin had done so and Annie gave them 15 dollars in 1 dollar bill increments so that they could easily get change to play at the arcade.

"Be careful about how much you spend early on or you won't have enough to last the whole day; also, I expect you both back here by supper, is that clear?" the human Toon said.

"Yes Mom." Both her kids replied.

"And Colin, keep an eye on your sister. I don't want anything awful to happen to anyone." Annie added.

"I will Mom; don't worry." Colin assured her. "We'll see you when we get home."

"See you later." She told them. Annie hated to say goodbye even if it was temporary. Still, she wanted to prove she wasn't too overprotective of her children.

"Are we going to have enough for lunch?" Mackenzie asked her brother as they got their bikes off the porch and then got on them to start riding.

"We should; I got my allowance to pay for lunch and you got yours; that plus the money Mom gave us for the arcade games should be enough to last us the whole day." Her brother answered her as they rode down the sidewalk, occasionally getting off to walk their bikes across crosswalks at intersections and watching out for four wheeled vehicles…

Rumble and Frenzy had arrived at the arcade first and 5 minutes after they arrived, they saw Colin and Mackenzie. They had assured Soundwave that they would be fine and that they would be home by the time the streetlights came on.

Mackenzie and Colin locked their bikes and put their helmets around the handlebars next to where the twins' bikes were parked and all 4 friends went inside.

"So, what have you two been up to?' Frenzy asked.

"Just school stuff and all of that. At least we'll get to have summer vacation soon." Colin commented.

"We're probably not going to get much vacation. There's plans to make the next season of The Transformers much longer depending on how well the first season does. We still don't know when we're filming again since we were told it might change on us." Rumble whispered so as not to be overheard.

"Being a TV star isn't all it's cracked up to be." Frenzy added. "We still have fun with it though.

Mackenzie got change for some of the dollar bills she had to get tokens while her brother and his friends were talking. "Hey guys, aren't you guys going to play some games?" She asked out loud.

"Oh yeah, we were." Rumble and Frenzy already had quarters and now Colin had gotten himself some.

The 4 kid Toons had a blast playing with each other. Mackenzie did reasonably well with playing Mrs. Pacman in particular and wound up playing it two more times before going on to a different game. After 3 hours though (plus a short lunch break for Colin and Mackenzie when they got Happy Meals from the McDonald's restaurant next door), they got bored and decided they wanted to go to Colin and Mackenzie's home so that they could do something different.

"Better call my mom on the payphone right outside." Colin told Rumble and Frenzy.

Before they could though, something happened that made their day. The Toon human man behind the counter where one turned in tickets to get prizes told them that Frenzy had been the 2,000 customer to the arcade.

"Really?" Frenzy's eye lit up.

"Yes really; you can choose any prize you want for any amount of tickets for yourself and your friends." The employee replied.

Frenzy looked at the big prizes; he knew exactly what each of them would want. He chose a GI Joe figurine of Cobra Commander for himself, a remote controlled airplane for Colin, a package Legos for Rumble, and a home game version of Mrs. Pacman for Mackenzie. Then his friends and brother turned in their tickets for other smaller prizes for themselves and for Frenzy, mainly yo-yos, Silly String, and candy which were all placed in bags so that they could hang the bags form their bike handle bars.

"Gee thanks for that. You really didn't have to get these big things for us." Rumble told his brother as they went outside so that Colin could call home to let Mom know to expect the two robot Toons to come to visit.

"Well, I kind of had to. I didn't want you guys to feel left out." Frenzy admitted shyly. Several other people had congratulated him on being given stuff for being customer number 2,000 and he wanted to get away from all of the attention ASAP.

"Okay guys, Mom said you can come over. She's calling your dad to let him know that you're still with us." Colin said after hanging up the payphone.

All 4 started heading for the White family home, not aware of what would happen next.

(POV switch.)

Optimus had been driving through the streets when he saw it happening. It seemed that Rumble and Frenzy had been out with Mackenzie and Colin and the 4 had stopped so that the latter two siblings could take a bathroom break. Then a teenage human boy Toon came up to them and took a remote controlled airplane form them.

"Hey, that belongs to my friend!' Rumble ran after the redhead boy, who had started laughing and seemed to get a kick out of the whole thing.

Of course, Optimus Prime would not stand for that. He transformed into robot mode and grabbed the teen. "Now what do you think you are doing stealing from a child?" He demanded to know as he lifted the boy up.

The teen thief couldn't answer very well. "I didn't realize anyone would see it."

"If you do not give that back to my friend's child, I will tell your parents." The red and blue Toon star informed him.

Several people had stopped and stared now and Colin and Mackenzie were among them as both had finished washing their hands. The teen thief immediately agreed to give the toy back.

Optimus placed the Toon human down, who subsequently gave the remote control airplane back to Frenzy and ran off.

"That wasn't something I was expecting to happen." Frenzy was now hiding behind Rumble as news reporters were gathering around them.

"Would you 4 like a ride to where you are going so that you can more easily avoid the reporters?" Optimus asked.

"Yeah, I think that would be good." Rumble agreed.

All 4 Toon kids put their bikes into Optimus Prime's trailer and once the latter had transformed back into vehicle mode, said kids climbed into the truck cab with their bags of prizes form the arcade and soon the drive home happened. It wasn't a direct route that they took to Colin and Mackenzie's home since the reporters were following them. Frenzy was relieved that he wasn't having his picture taken at the moment.

"I hate all that attention." The red and black preteen Toon muttered.

"We'll be away from them soon; it seems that they got the message that we wish to be left alone." Optimus Prime assured his younger costar.

Mackenzie dared to look in the rear view mirror; indeed no one was following them now. "That was something I never want to have happen again."

"Agreed." Her brother and his friends replied.

Optimus soon turned onto William Hannah Street and stopped in front of Colin and Mackenzie's home. They got out, Rumble and Frenzy not too far behind them, taking their bags of prizes form the arcade into the house then getting their bikes out of Optimus Prime's trailer; the kids were all still wearing their helmets which they took off upon getting inside.

Annie came out of the house. "Optimus, what exactly happened? I thought the kids were riding their bikes home."

Optimus explained the whole story, his frustration evident. "I believe it would be best for me to go home before the news media finds me here." He finished. "I was simply doing what I felt was the right thing. Perhaps that young Toon will learn his lesson from all of this."

"Thank you for bringing them the rest of the way here." Annie was relieved to know that nothing worse had happened.

"You're very welcome Annie." He replied. "I must be heading home now. I have a feeling this will be in the newspapers tomorrow regardless of my efforts to get away from the media."

"Well, that can't be helped I suppose." The Toon woman admitted. "I'll see you next week at the carnival. Farewell for now."

"Farewell Annie." Optimus drove off, hoping that next week would be better.

May 25th, 1984

The news of the attempted theft of her brother's prize from the arcade had made the news, but was not the main front page article. It was on the third page of The Toontown Times though and had space dedicated to it. If Frenzy and Rumble had not been the ones who had been subject to said attempted theft or if it hadn't been Optimus who stopped it, it wouldn't have made the news at all. Mackenzie wasn't thinking about that though. She was thinking of sleeping over at Hailey's house since she would get to do that tomorrow night after the carnival. Yet she should have been paying attention to her final test for this week.

"Mackenzie White, finish your work if you are not finished yet." Her teacher called over to her.

A few of the other kids giggled as Mackenzie decided to fill in the rest of her answers. At least next Friday, school would be out for the summer and she and Colin would not be going back until the day after Labor Day.

(Colin's POV)

Now that it was the end of the school day, Colin was excited more than anything. While Mackenzie slept over at the Hound family's home, Henry would come over to his house with Rumble and Frenzy and the 4 would have an all-night video game tournament on Saturday. He was even more excited about the carnival tomorrow since it meant that he could have fun with his family and get to know his mom's boyfriend better. He had wanted to talk with Phil and be reassured that he was a nice guy.

Those thoughts occupied his head on the bus ride home and as he got off the bus after Mackenzie did and went into the house. The sky was clear and blue today and that was the forecast for tomorrow as well.

Soon, Colin saw a note from his mom attached to the refrigerator. It said,

 _Dear Colin and Mackenzie, I will be home a little bit late tonight since I'm getting sunscreen and our tickets for the carnival. Optimus wants to invite us for dinner again on Sunday since we haven't been over for a while so please make sure the laundry is done so that we all have something to wear on that day-Mom._

Colin read the note out loud. "Well, guess we better get that done."

"I hate chores." Mackenzie muttered as she went to the laundry room, her brother following behind her.

"Hey, if we didn't keep the house clean, we wouldn't be able to get out if there was a fire. Did you ever think of that?" the blonde Toon boy asked his sister.

"Good point." She replied. Always the sensible person and trying to be good aren't you, Mackenzie thought to herself. She was jealous that her brother could behave himself better without any effort, at least that's what it seemed like. He has to be perfect or something, the brunette Toon girl thought as she opened the laundry room door and moved her black hair out of her face so that she could see everything better.

They found instructions taped to the side of the machine, also in their mom's handwriting as well as the laundry from this week that had not been washed on Tuesday. Once they put in a load of light colored clothes (and Colin made sure that Mackenzie did not put too much soap in as a joke), the washing machine started running and the two went their separate ways for now. Colin went to his room to play one of his video games and Mackenzie went to the living room to watch some afternoon cartoons after getting herself some pretzels for a snack. At least that job was done.

When her mom came home, Mackenzie helped make a slightly late dinner as did Colin, who wanted to mix up instant pudding for tonight's dessert. Supper was meatloaf and mashed potatoes with cooked carrots and lemonade to drink.

"Now here's a reminder for both of you; if you decide to go off by yourselves to do things at the carnival, please stick together and hold on tightly when you go on the rides. Also, do not waste all of your money or go with strangers. Am I clear?" Their mom inquired.

"Clear as a crystal." Mackenzie and Colin both replied then continued eating. They weren't worried about anything bad happening but hoped to not get unwanted attention for any reason but considering that their family was friends with a few TV stars, avoiding said attention would probably be more difficult than they expected it to be…


	8. Chapter 8

Life changing events chapter 8

May 26th, 1984

(Optimus Prime's POV)

The whole day, Annie was having fun with her family and Optimus was smiling at the fact that his dear friend was enjoying the whole carnival. In a few moments though, he would have to start answering various questions as would his co-stars who had joined him today.

"And now, without further ado, these six stars of The Transformers will now answer your questions." The announcer said.

The crowd of various different Toons cheered. Bumblebee and Jazz were also smiling at the crowd as a young Toon beaver, who looked to be about Colin's age asked the first question. "Is it fun to play the bad guys?" he asked Megatron, Starscream, and Soundwave.

Starscream answered the question. "It is a lot of fun pretending to be evil. I enjoyed it once I was able to stop being nervous and remember my lines."

More questions were asked, and all 6 robot Toons did their best to answer them. Finally, Mackenzie, who was standing in the crowd with her family and Phil, asked Optimus something. "Have you ever laughed so hard while filming a funny scene that you had to go off the set for a while to calm down."

"It has not happened to me but it did happen to Mirage and Cliffjumper." He answered. "We had to wait for 2 hours until they were calm enough to return to the set and finish the take."

5 minutes later, the whole event was over and he could finally return home. Optimus Prime never thought that public appearances would be so tiring but at least the children were excited to see him and his costars and excited for the series' Toontown premiere next week. It was something that the studio executives and Hasbro were excited about as well.

As soon as he returned home, Optimus hugged Elita and Hot Rod and just spent time with them away from the media and public eyes. He felt bad for Soundwave, who had opted to stay at the carnival and take Rumble and Frenzy on a few rides and play games with them but he wasn't aware that Annie White and her family were going to have to deal with their own unwanted attention…

(No particular person's POV)

It wasn't every day she saw someone creepy walking around. Much less someone creepy shouting swear words at her mother's boyfriend..

"What is wrong with her?" Colin whispered.

"I don't know." Mackenzie hid behind her brother, unsure of what to do.

The crazy blonde Toon turned out to be drunk as Annie noticed the smell of alcohol on her breath and called over a police officer who was nearby. Mackenzie didn't pay much attention after that, being too shocked to react as the woman was soon arrested and taken away as her mother and Phil gave a statement about what had happened.

"I think it's time I took all of you home." Phil led everyone to his car; they had driven in it to get here and no one wanted to go home early but since Phil looked so shaken up, Mackenzie and Colin didn't complain and just put their seatbelts on.

As he drove, Phil apologized. "Cindy was always a violent drunk; I didn't want to fall into that bad habit myself hence the breakup." He explained. "I don't even want to know what she would have done to any of you."

"It's not your fault she's jealous and couldn't get her life together." Annie assured the blond Toon man. "It's disappointing to go home early but at least none of us got hurt; that's the most important part."

"You're right; maybe next weekend we can do something else together without having to worry about interruptions." Phil tried to smile a little as he pulled up to his girlfriend's home. She and her children got out of the car and bid him goodbye as he drove off.

Later that night, sleepover locations had been slightly rearranged, well, only one was. It was decided that both Henry and Haley Hound would be sleeping over at the White family's home since that made more sense due to not having anybody having to do quite as much driving. Rumble and Frenzy would arrive in half an hour for a most of the night video game tournament with Henry and Colin; during said video game tournament, Haley and Mackenzie would be doing something else though if either of them wanted to play any of the video games, the boys would have to let them do so.

Annie had ordered Chinese takeout food for everyone and 20 something minutes later, Rumble and Frenzy arrived after Haley and Henry had been dropped off.

"Hey Ms. White, where were you? You left the carnival early." Rumble was confused. True, he and his brother would still get to hang out with Colin tonight but still, he really wanted to know.

"Just wanted to come home early." Annie felt bad about lying but didn't want to say the real reason in front of Haley and Henry. Mackenzie and Colin would probably tell them soon enough though.

The takeout food soon arrived, distracting everyone, much to the Toon woman's relief. She divided up the food between everyone who could eat it; Rumble and Frenzy had already had robot Toon fuel before leaving home and would also have breakfast upon arriving home in the morning. When the kids were done eating, Annie explained the rules.

"Everyone is to behave; if there are any problems, please come and get me. Also, everyone is to be in bed by midnight and no raiding the refrigerator." She looked at Henry while saying this. "Also, please keep the front door and back door locked. Is that clear?"

"Yes Ma'am." all the kids replied.

"Good; I'll be upstairs reading if you need anything." Annie finished her food and went to her room.

Rumble, Frenzy, and Henry subsequently followed Colin up to his room to start playing their video games. That left Mackenzie and Haley downstairs.

"Want to watch the Saturday night movie?" Mackenzie asked.

"Sure." Haley said, glad to do that. Tonight the Disney film about Snow White was on the All Cartoons channel so the Toon hound took the TV remote, turned the television on and made sure it was on the right channel. The day might have had something bad happen but it had ended well, that was all that mattered...

May 27th, 1984

At 8:30 a.m., Colin was the first of everyone sleeping in his room to wake up. He looked around; Rumble, Frenzy, and Henry were still in their sleeping bags on the floor. Mackenzie was in her room with Haley; Mom was already up and cooking breakfast. The only reason the Toon boy could tell was that he could hear bacon sizzling and his mother singing along to a song on the radio.

The 9 year old boy soon walked into the kitchen. "Good morning Mom." He said.

"Good morning Colin." Annie replied to her son. "Breakfast will be ready soon; I just have to flip over the pancakes. Could you set the table for me please?"

Colin did so, then went to wake up his friends and his sister and her friend. Once all the Toon kids were downstairs, everyone except Rumble and Frenzy ate pancakes, bacon, toast, or cold cereal for their breakfast. Milk and orange juice were the two choice they had for drinks.

Annie ate her own breakfast and immediately wondering what the next week would bring as Soundwave arrived to take Rumble and Frenzy home and Mrs. Hound came to get Haley and Henry. Then all too soon, it was time to go to Optimus Prime's home for lunch for today...

June 1st, 1984

The last day of school had come and gone. Mackenzie and Colin had ultimately cheered loudly with their classmates when the bell rang for their early release. They got on the bus and led Henry and Haley in a sing-along of "Down by the Bay", going through at least 10 verses before stopping at the bus stop where the two Hound siblings had to get off. Then, they got off at their bus stop and ran into the house, after Colin had taken his key and unlocked the door of course.

"Can you believe it? We've got 3 months off from school now!" Mackenzie threw her backpack on the floor and immediately ran into the living room to turn on the TV.

"Yeah 'Kenzie, I believe it." Colin closed and locked the front door behind them

Lunch with Optimus the previous Sunday had gone well; he had told the kids that one day, during the next season's filming which would start in January of next year, that they would be allowed to visit the set.

Of course, Mackenzie and Colin were excited at this prospect. Several months was quite sometime to wait through. Then Elita revealed that she would have a brief guest appearance as herself in the next season but admitted she wasn't allowed to say which episode it would be in.

"Darn it." Mackenzie had muttered when that had been told to her. She could wait; she could prove she was as good as her brother.

"Hey 'Kenzie, there's a package for us and Mom!" Colin called out as he carried in a box from the front porch.

The young girl hadn't been paying attention; how could she not have seen that first? "Okay; what is it?"

"It's something from Hasbro; it says on the letter on top 'don't open until your Mom is present.' I think it's something for Mom mainly because of her working on The Transformers." He answered as he set the package down near the sofa.

"Hmm, guess we'll have to find out when Mom gets home." Mackenzie got a bag of sour cream and onion chips out of the cupboard and poured some into a bowl. "Want to eat while we're waiting?"

"Just a little; Mom won't like it if we spoil our appetite too much." He took a few chips out of the bowl while Mackenzie put a clothespin on the chip bag and put it back in the cupboard. She took the bowl of chips in front of the downstairs TV and began watching some afternoon kids' shows while Colin went outside to ask Mrs. Gardner if she knew what movies would be available for rental next weekend when Mom's birthday would occur.

Soon, Colin returned. "There's not really anything family appropriate we can rent from the video store next week; maybe Mom would like to see a movie at the movie theater instead." He commented.

"Yeah but what's supposed to be playing next week?" Mackenzie wanted to know.

It was then that Mackenzie got her answer from a TV spot airing on the channel she had just been watching (seeing as she hadn't turned off the TV yet); it was for the film Ghostbusters.

"Hey, that looks interesting; maybe Mom will want to see that." Colin suggested as Mackenzie turned off the TV and went outside to draw with sidewalk chalk.

A few hours later when Annie had brought home pizza for herself and her children, they asked her about it.

"I don't know about a comedy film about ghosts; it does seem interesting though." Annie thought for a moment. "Yes, maybe we can see it; Phil was talking about it today at work and I think he wouldn't mind if all four of us saw it the night before my birthday."

"All right! I hope you do end up liking it Mom; it will be your birthday weekend after all." Mackenzie was smiling.

"Even if I don't, there's till the party on my actual birthday to look forward to." The Toon mom gave both of her kids as a hug after getting up from the table and then she threw away the empty pizza box.

"Oh, Mom we got a package from Hasbro earlier." Colin said.

"Well, you two throw away your paper plates and we'll see what it is." Annie told her son.

Once Colin and Mackenzie had cleared the table off, the package was opened and everyone cheered but the kids especially; it was some of the toys that were going to be released as part of the Transformers toyline's first wave of toys and there was also the first 2 issues of The Transformers comic book series, which wouldn't be in continuity with the show but it didn't really matter that much. Last but certainly not least there was a note for Annie specifically, which she read aloud.

 _Dear Ms. White,_

 _We would like to thank you and the other Toon crew members for your hard work on the first season of The Transformers with these gifts for your children; we hope they enjoy playing out their own pretend battles between the Autobots and Decepticons as well as reading about it. The third issue of the comic book will be available at the ToonTown Comic Book Shop next month and future issues of the comic will also be sold there as they are released to both the Toon and human public._

 _We appreciate your work on maintaining the vehicles used for our robot stars' altmodes and hope you continue to work with us and Sunbow Productions on future seasons of the show._

 _With best regards,_

 _Stephen Hassenfield, CEO and Chairman of Hasbro Industries_

Annie had tears of joy in her eyes. To hear that the humans behind The Transformers franchise appreciate the Toon crew members of the TV show even if they didn't seem that important was something she had always wanted to hear or read in this case. She immediately went to her room to pen a thank you letter while Colin and Mackenzie continued playing with the toys they had been given.

The single Toon mother wrote her reply.

 _Dear Mr. Hassenfield,_

 _Thank you for the Transformers merchandise; my children Colin and Mackenzie are playing with the toys as I write this and I know other children will love playing with them just as much as my own do. It is nice to know that my work is appreciated and I intend to keep working on The Transformers TV show until it ends. I'm not sure what will come after that since I'm focused on the present right now but I wanted to say you're welcome for your comments and to say that I am excited about my children getting to visit the show's set since they are curious about what I do for a living. I'm glad they'll know soon._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Anne White_

She sealed the letter into an envelope and wrote the address that she needed to send it to correctly, then she put on her return address and a stamp and went out to put the letter in her mail box; it would be picked up tomorrow to be sent to Mr. Hassenfied; maybe he wouldn't actually read the letter but it sure felt good to write it and Annie felt good about what this summer would bring for herself, her family, and her friends.


	9. Chapter 9

Life changing events chapter 9

Saturday, June 2nd, 1984

Mackenzie awoke on that Saturday morning and took a glance at the calendar that was on the wall of her room above her dresser; today was the Toontown premiere of The Transformers cartoon and it would be starting in 25 minutes. She immediately got herself dressed and went to her brother's room to wake him up.

Colin was already awake and dressed when his little sister came into his room. "Good morning 'Kenzie." He said, yawning a little.

"Good morning; you going to come down with me to eat so that we can watch The Transformers this morning? I'm kind of interested in seeing exactly what happens since Rumble and Frenzy weren't allowed to give away spoilers." Mackenzie replied.

"Sure." He immediately followed her downstairs and the two siblings poured themselves some cereal to eat for their breakfast. Their mother was still asleep so they remained quiet for the time being.

Soon enough, Mackenzie turned on the TV to the correct channel and the first episode of The Transformers started soon after she and Colin had sat down on the sofa to watch it. They had to admit that htey liked it.

"So how was it?" Annie asked her children as she came downstairs after the show was over.

"It's pretty good Mom; I can't wait until next week to see if the 'bots manage to save Spike and Sparkplug." Mackenzie grinned.

"you'll find out soon enough; just be patient." Annie cooked breakfast for herself and Colin went upstairs to play video games while Mackenzie continued watching her favorite shows, well just 2 more before her mother made her go outside with her older brother.

"I have cleaning to do and I know you both need some exercise." She said. "Please stay outside for at least 3 hours okay?"

"We will." Mackenzie said, turning off the TV and putting the remote on the end table to the right of the sofa. She got her bike helmet then went outside, Colin not too far behind her and they decided to ride their bikes to the nearest playground with Haley and Henry.

Annie smiled as she did some of the housework; vaccuming the floors, cleaning both bathrooms, throwing away rotten food that had been in the refrigerator for who knows how long, and washing dishes. She was just about to make herself lunch before polishing the furniture when she heard a knock at the door. She immediately went to answer it, not knowing who was actually there.

When she opened the door, the Toon woman was shocked; it was Phil who had shown up and he had flowers. True, anyone else would think that was chyeesy but Annie didn't think it was. "Oh, thank you!"

"I got them for you." The brown haired Toon man explained. "I knew you'd like them.

Annie embraced Phil and held him closely. "Want to come inside for a while?"

"I wish I could but I'm on my way to visit some nieces and nephews." He answered. "I'll be at your birthday party next week though."

"Well, I am certainly looking forward to seeing you there dear." She blushed and quickly kissed Phil.

In turn, Phil kissed her passionately in return before leaving. "I'll see you next week Annie."

"See you then." Annie watched as Phil got back into his car and drove away. She then put the flowers in a vase with some water and proceeded to finally polish the furniture. Hopefully, Colin and Mackenzie weren't getting into any trouble...

They would be in trouble once they got home. It seemed that Jake Jaguar wouldn't quit bothering Mackenzie so Colin decided to provoke the Toon bully into hitting him so that he would be the only one who got into trouble as often seemed to be the case when getting a reaction out of someone.

Surprisingly it worked; the two Toon boys fought with each other. Mackenzie was impressed but the attention form the other kids on the playground was unnerving. Thankfully, Jake's father took his son and ordered him to come home. Once the two Toon jaguars were out of sight, Colin got up.

"Colin, are you all right? You didn't need to do that for me; you're going to get in trouble with Mom." Mackenzie admitted. "I was impressed though.

"I won't get in trouble if you don't tell her." Colin pointed out. "Besides, it's just a few scratches and bruises."

"All right; we'll just say you feel off your bike after running into bushes." His sister whispered.

The two siblings headed home on their bikes and surprisingly, Annie believed her children's story. She simply warned Colin to be careful and helped him clean his scratches and put ointment on them. Mackenzie got herself some stuff to make sandwiches out of the refrigerator and sighed with relief; today had turned out better than expected and her brother maybe wasn't as annoying as she thought considering he had defended her. No sense arguing with him all the time, just sometimes, she thought to herself as she made herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich...

June 8th, 1984

It was now Friday night and time to go to the movie theater to see Ghostbusters. Annie had gotten herself and her children ready and soon Phil had arrived to drive them to the movie theater. Colin and Mackenzie had surprisingly gotten along well all week and were doing so right now on the drive there. She wasn't sure what had caused it but she was glad that there was no arguing or physical fights between her children for the moment.

"Hey Mom, look! Rumble and Frenzy are at the theater!" Colin pointed as he looked out the window.

"I see them Colin; you and Mackenzie can sit next to them if you wish; just meet up with us in the front lobby afterwards." Annie said.

Phil parked the car in the Toontown Family Cinema's parking lot. "I'm all right with them doing that." He said. "Let's go get our tickets first though."

The line was a bit long but Mackenzie and Colin were patient as people moved slowly but surely, getting tickets and snacks and drinks. Finally, it was their family's turn.

"2 adult tickets and 2 children's tickets for Ghostbusters please." Annie said once they got to the ticket counter.

"Okay, want any snacks or beverages to go with that?" The rabbit Toon sitting behind the counter asked.

"i want Coke!" Colin said.

"I want Coke to please!" Mackenzie added.

"I'll have some Sprite." Phil said. "What about you Annie?"

"I think I'll have Doctor Pepper." She answered. "And we would also like 2 medium sized bags of popcorn and 2 large bags of popcorn please."

"All right; your snacks will be ready in just a moment." The Toon rabbit ticket seller said. She told them the total and Phil paid for the snacks and tickets. He followed his girlfriend and her children to the other end of the counter where the snacks were and they all picked up their drinks and bags of popcorn and went into the theater area.

Mackenzie was glad they were sitting in the middle; Rumble and Frenzy had greeted them and sat not too far away from where she and Colin were sitting and they started talking about how exciting they thought the movie would be until the previews started and the lights dimmed. Annie held Phil's hand during the whole movie except when having to comfort her children when they got scared of a few of the things in the movie. Everybody enjoyed the movie though and they were still talking about it on the way home after Rumble and Frenzy had left the theater and Phil had been dropped off at his home.

"I really liked that movie mom; it wasn't too bad for a humans only film." Mackenzie said.

"Me too. I really want to get it when it comes out on video." Colin added.

"Well, we can certainly do that." Annie smiled. She had loved that movie too so it would definitely go on the list of possible extra stuff to get during Christmas.

Soon, they were home and Annie had parked the car and turned it off. She and her children got out of the car, closing the doors and making sure they were locked, before going inside the house with the leftover popcorn and soda to finish eating it. It had been a great evening before her birthday and tomorrow would be her actual birthday party; Tim had arranged it for her, with her input since she didn't like surprises, and the Toon mom thought that he was the greatest sibling ever. She wondered what Rick would have thought but pushed that thought form her mind until she was upstairs in her room to get ready for bed; Colin and Mackenzie were downstairs watching a Loony Tunes marathon on the All Cartoons Channel.

Annie took a look at the picture on her dresser of herself, Rick, Colin and Mackenzie. "You know, I think you'd want me to be happy dear. I just still miss you at times. Maybe I can put this picture out of sight for a while." She commented to herself as she placed the picture back down. She would still have fun tomorrow no doubt about that. Hopefully, everyone who would be a guest at her party would too...

June 9th, 1984

Today was finally her 30th birthday. Annie awoke and got herself ready;the TV was on downstairs so Colin and Mackenzie had probably gotten up shortly before she had.

"Hey Mom, are you up?" Colin called form downstairs.

"I'm up; just need to get ready and have breakfast. Then we'll drive over to the park for the party." She answered her son.

"Okay." Colin went back to watching TV with his sister; they were now watching the second part of The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye mini series and enjoying it. They were glad that Rumble and Frenzy hadn't spoiled it for them even though it was likely that they were tempted to.

Later at the party, everyone was having a good time. The guests were Annie's relatives and her close friends as well including Optimus Prime and Elita One. The weather was perfect as well and she couldn't help but smile the whole time. This had been the happiest birthday she had so far, even if Rick was not there to enjoy it with her. He would have loved to know that she had been having this much fun. The summer was looking to be really amazing and it seemed like nothing would go wrong...


	10. Chapter 10

Life changing events chapter 10

Author's note: This chapter is dedicated to the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015 as well as those who died in the San Bernadino shooting that happened on December 2nd, 2015. It is also dedicated to everyone who has died as a result of gun violence in general.

July 18th, 1984

So much stuff had happened this summer, most of it good, such as Mackenzie and Colin getting to visit Uncle Tim last weekend and Annie and Phil officially becoming a couple. Rumble and Frenzy would celebrate their birthday in August and then, Optimus was taking Colin and Mackenzie to visit Los Angeles for a day since he had gotten permission from their mother to do so; most Toons who weren't stars or employed by the entertainment industry in some other form got to go outside of Toontown, let alone normal Toons who were under the age of 18. Annie trusted Optimus though and the studio was okay with it seeing as the latter could certainly handle himself well enough to not need a body guard, something most other Toon stars did have. It would also reassure parents worried about the fighting on the Transformers cartoon that the characters were generally kind to have around and that Prime and his co-stars were good role models for Toon kids.

Today though, Mackenzie and Colin were feeling the worst that they had ever felt; they were home on this Wednesday afternoon after having gone to the Toontown Video Arcade again, this time with Haley and Henry as Rumble and Frenzy had gone with Soundwave to make a public appearance promoting The Transformers cartoon and toy line. When they turned on the TV, which had been left on one of the human news channels, they stared in shock as they heard the report. A shooting had happened at a McDonald's restaurant in San Diego.

"Colin, turn it off." Mackenzie told him after a few minutes of hearing about it.

Her older brother did so and then hugged her. They didn't need to say anything specific about what they were feeling. So many families would have to go through the same thing they had gone through when they had lost their father over a year ago.

Mackenzie cried for a long time, eventually going into her room and locking herself in. Colin was still on the sofa and eventually let himself cry. At least the kids in his class weren't seeing this or they'd make fun of him due to the whole belief of "boys don't cry"…

When Annie came home from work, Colin wasn't sure how to form the words to describe what had been said on the news earlier. So, she turned it on for herself and kept watching the news coverage of the McDonald's massacre as she hugged her son.

Mackenzie came downstairs when she heard the TV and sat on the other side of her mother. Now, they were saying that the perpetrator of the shooting was dead due to being shot by a SWAT team member after killing 21 people total and injuring 19 others.

"Mom, why would people do that to someone who's just trying to eat at their favorite restaurant?" Mackenzie asked, fresh tears rolling down her face.

"I don't know." Annie replied honestly. She hugged her children close and ordered pizza that night since everyone else wasn't hungry for whatever they had in the house.

That night, Annie cried. So many people had lost a family member just as she had and it wasn't too hard to empathize with those humans. She just wished she could have answered her daughter's question…

July 19th, 1984

Optimus Prime didn't usually keep up with the human news but that day, as he came to the studio for a meeting and ran into Annie, he had heard about this mass killing of humans that was now a huge news story.

"They still don't know why he did it and I don't think they'll ever really know." Annie explained. "Is it weird that I feel sorry for them since my family went through something similar?"

"I do not think it is a bad thing to feel sorry for them,, Annie. That simply shows that you are a very empathetic person." Optimus Prime replied. "If you need any type of counseling, the studio can provide it."

"I know. I'm not ready to talk to anyone just yet. More than anything though, I wish I could answer Mackenzie and Colin's questions about why it happened and whether anything could have been done to change that man's mind." She sighed sadly. "Guess I better try to keep my mind off of it." With that, Annie headed for the garage to start her shift.

"Unfortunately, I do not think those questions can be answered or ever will be. " Optimus commented, more to himself than to anyone else. He just hoped that Mackenzie and Colin were doing all right today…

At home, Mackenzie stuffed herself with junk food and didn't talk to Colin or their friends when they showed up to play. When not eating or using the bathroom, she stayed in her room and didn't let anyone come in.

Colin, on the other hand did play with Henry, Rumble and Frenzy in the backyard and Mrs. Gardner took it upon herself to check on them to be sure everything was okay.

"I'm fine." Colin lied.

Mrs. Gardner, her blonde hair in a perm and giving a smile to the kids, then left for work herself. She would be home around 4:30 p.m.

"Want to play some baseball?" Henry suggested.

"Sounds great to me." Colin went to get the baseball equipment from his room and the impromptu game began.

Mackenzie stared out the window. "I wish people didn't have to die before their time." She sighed sadly.

In the evening, Annie came home and made dinner. Colin and Mackenzie ate their food, still nto in the mood for conversation. Thankfully, tonight they would get to take their mind off what they had seen on the news since they were going to spend a few days at the Prime family home due to the fact that their mother was going to go and help Aunt Sara out; she had broken her leg on Tuesday and would need some help with stuff around the house and watching their cousins.

When they arrived, Elita took the children inside with their stuff while Optimus knelt down and asked Annie "Are you sure you'll be all right?"

"I will be; helping my in-laws will keep my mind off of that horrible story." Annie answered; in truth, she had been watching the human news channels for updates on the investigation into the McDonald's massacre and wondered what drove humans to be so evil at times; true, their treatment of Toons had gotten better over the decades and laws were made to make killing of a Toon by a human a crime the latter could be charged with after the invention of Dip so long ago but that hadn't stopped whoever had killed her husband; that person was to go to trial sometime during December according to the Toontown Times' article that had been published after the charges had been formally made.

Wait a minute, how could she forget that? Annie was going to testify about how Rick's death had affected her and her family; she had been the one to identify his body after all…

(Flashback)

Rick White had almost been disintegrated immediately, keyword almost; the only thing that had stopped that was the bullets having exited his body, making the process go slower. He still had his favorite T-shirt on, a blue t-shirt that he had worn for Halloween last year as part of a homemade Smurf costume but was also worn as a regular shirt every other time he had worn it.

Annie noticed this, still too shocked to do anything; then she recognized his wedding ring that matched her own and burst into tears. No one had the heart to make her leave right away, not even the main detective investigating the case though she did leave after a few minutes to inform her family that what had happened was indeed real and not a dream.

(End flashback)

Right now, Annie outright wanted to hate humans simply because they would kill anyone even their own. Except she couldn't as she got into her car; the humans who she had been working with on The Transformers were very decent people and one shouldn't have to judge a whole group by the actions of one. That didn't mean she wouldn't cry for a bit before she drove off, knowing that it would be hard to compose herself to help her family out but that had to be done…

Mackenzie and Colin weren't in the mood to say anything. They just sat down at the card table on top of the huge table in Optimus Prime's kitchen and each ate a TV dinner. When they were done, they went to the two human Toon sized guests rooms they would sleep in during their stay and went to sleep without a word to Prime or Elita.

It wasn't until later that night that one of the two wanted to talk. More specifically, Mackenzie wanted to after having a nightmare. Thankfully, Optimus' home didn't have stairs as it only had one floor so getting to his room was no problem. The only problem would be getting the door open since she could not reach the doorknob at all. She knocked on it instead and waited for an answer as tears ran down her face.

Optimus Prime immediately opened the door and knelt down. "Mackenzie, did you have a nightmare?" he asked, his gentle sounding voice filled with concern.

"How did you guess?" was her reply.

"Perhaps I was just lucky." Optimus commented as he lifted the young girl up and took her into the living room to sit. "Do you wish to talk about it?"

"I think I should; it's just so hard to put my feelings into words though." Mackenzie answered as Optimus stopped walking and sat down, still holding her in his hand the whole time.

He listened as she told him about her nightmare. The details were disturbing; among other thins, she had seen people bleeding to death as well as hearing gunshots during said nightmare and had been running in her dream before waking up.

Mackenzie was in tears all over again now that she had finished explaining what she had dreamed about as Optimus gently rubbed her back with one finger to try to calm her down. "Why is it that people kill others? What drives them to think that they could do what was done this past Wednesday?"

The red and blue robot Toon wished he could answer her questions It certainly wasn't easy trying to find out why someone could do such a thing and there would only be so much that the police would be able to find out about this recent incident seeing as the perpetrator was dead. "I'm afraid I do not know the answer nor will anyone else truly know." He admitted.

"That the same thing that Mom said." Mackenzie wiped her face with a tissue that Optimus had handed to her. "Nobody should go through something like that;I just wish I could help the families of the victims in some way."

By now, Colin had come out of the room he had been sleeping in and wanted to talk to Optimus as well. Mackenzie let him, seeing as hiding one's feelings about this kind of thing had turned out to be a bad idea.

"I think we should write them a letter and let them know that we are thinking of them." Mackenzie suggested. "We know what it's like to lose someone to gun violence."

Her older brother silently agreed. "Why don't we write it in the morning and send it to the newspapers? Then we could be sure that the letter would reach them. Do you think they'll appreciate it Optimus?"

"I am sure they will appreciate that someone is thinking of them, young one. At the same time though, the injured and the families of those who lost their lives in the shooting do need their time to grieve privately just as everyone else does when a loved one dies." Optimus Prime answered. "I think, for now, it is time you two went back to sleep if you feel you are able to."

The two human Toon siblings decided that they could sleep now and went back to their rooms, thanking Optimus for talking to them.

"you're welcome young ones; just remember that one can not stop living their life just because they have lost someone they loved and that empathy can be a very good thing to have at your disposal alongside the laughter that Toons have." He told them.

The very next morning, July 20th, a Friday, was when Mackenzie and Colin wrote their letter after having had breakfast. Well, Colin was doing most of the writing since he could spell better most of the time. Once they had finished writing the letter, it was copied and sent to several human and Toon newspapers covering the story of the McDonald's massacre. The letter contained the following:

 _Dear people of San Diego,_

 _We are writing this to express our sympathies for those who lost loved ones on Wednesday and hope that those injured will recover soon. The answers for why the shooting happened may never be known but that doesn't mean people should stop going out to eat at their favorite restaurant or doing anything else fun just because of this incident. That's not what those who died would want their loved ones to do; they would want their families and friends to keep trying to live even while missing them after the initial mourning period is over._

 _Knowing that many people had to go through something similar to what happened when we lost our father, although on a larger scale, caused the tragedy to hit close to home for us. There are times when we still miss him even though it's been over a year since it happened but we have tried our best to live without him. It doesn't get any easier at first but it is doable. Too many people die too soon and since no one knows whenn their last day will be, the best thing they can do is live well so that they could be remembered for many good things when their time comes to leave this Earth._

 _Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this shooting and we hope that one day this kind of thing will never happen again even though it will take a lot of hard work to prevent such violence._

 _With sympathy,_

 _Colin and Mackenzie White_


	11. Chapter 11

Life changing events chapter 11

August 10th, 1984

With the shocking incident of last month behind them after therapy, Mackenzie and Colin were doing much better. Aunt Sara had recovered from her injuries and now could take care of Jessica and Kevin just fine; thus, Annie could now do her regular work as needed and a normal routine of her going to work during the week days and Colin and Mackenzie spending their days playing with friends and weekends together doing family things had been the norm for a while.

Today though they were headed to Rumble and Frenzy's birthday party; the twins would now be 12 years old and then next year, they would be teenagers. It was hard to believe but unlike TV, in real life kids had to get older and grow up. Colin was worried they would forget about him but hoped that his presents for them might remind them of how much their friendship meant.

"I'm sure they'll like our gifts." Mackenzie said to Colin as they arrived at their friends' home.

Annie was with her children and had been given the day off to attend the party; in fact, most of the attendees of the birthday party would be Rumble and Frenzy's co-stars and maybe a small number of relatives as their family was pretty small in general.

Filming of the next season of The Transformers would start in September now that the auditions for the next season had been made. Unfortunately, the 3 'bots who played Reflector would not be returning for long since they wanted to go back to living normal lives and did not like the attention from appearing on the show. Everybody respected their decision, Annie included, and had wished them well in their future endeavors.

At the party, Colin and Mackenzie stuck by Rumble and Frenzy and their two other friends, Eject and Rewind.

"Our dad is Blaster; he's appearing in the second season of the Transformers." Rewind explained upon introducing himself and his brother to Colin and Mackenzie.

"Cool!" Colin said. "Is anyone else who is going to be on the second season here, besides Elita that is?"

"Yup; you can go and talk to them if you want to or you can hang out with us until it's time to eat." Eject reassured the two human Toons.

"I think I want to go meet everyone else I haven't met yet that's here." Mackenzie admitted. "I'll see you guys later."

With that, the Toon girl went to see who else she could talk to, eventually meeting Tracks. Unlike Sunstreaker, Tracks was much kinder in real life and less likely to look down on people than his onscreen self was and although he was not allowed to answer all of Mackenzie's questions, he did find her adorable and was polite about it.

In the meanwhile, Soundwave had gone to check on his sons and their friends. Seeing them play video games together made him smile. Like Optimus, Elita, and Thundercracker, he sat down to watch them play as did Annie, who was sitting on his lap. Recently, Annie and Phil had had an amicable breakup; they had realized their crushes on each other weren't going beyond that and had decided to go their separate ways. Perhaps this was for the best as Soundwave couldn't stop thinking about the Toon woman whose life was in some ways similar to his own before getting to work on The Transformers. They were both single parents yet different types of Toons regarding what they resembled and the obvious size difference. Of course, some Toons could change their size but one had to have inherited the ability to do so and that was not the case for Soundwave.

He tried to push these thoughts out of his head; it wouldn't be right to act on what seemed to be a crush on someone who wasn't quite a coworker but was close enough to being one that it would make things awkward the few times they would see each other at work.

"Soundwave, are you all right?" Thundercracker asked.

"I'm fine." The dark blue robot Toon replied.

Soon it was time for everyone to eat and once that was done, Mackenzie joined her brother, the birthday boys, and their friends outside in the backyard to play for a while longer before the presents were opened. When the party was over and everyone else had left, Soundwave offered to walk Annie and her children home. The only reason for the White family walking there and back had been because Annie's Oldsmobile Cutlass had been in the shop to repair the breaks, have the oil changed, and other such bits of maintenance since she did not have time to do it herself.

"Thank you Soundwave; that's very kind of you. Who knew you were such a gentleman?" Annie smiled and blushed a little. Why was she doing that?

When they got home, Mackenzie whispered to Colin "I think Sundwave has a crush on Mom and she feels the same way. Did you see how they were embarrassed when they briefly stared at each other while he was walking us home?"

"Don't be silly 'Kenzie; it would never work out." Colin was dismissive of the idea; after all, he was still at the age where kissing was disgusting, let alone any other lovey dovey thing.

Annie heard this "Mackenzie Elizabeth White, I do not have a crush on any of the stars of The Transformers. Besides that, they're contractually forbidden form acting on anything like that with a coworker until said contract ends" She told her , it was a lie, but the whole idea embarrassed her.

"See? I told you." Colin said smugly, easily believing his mom's words.

Mackenzie did not believe it though but didn't say anything in response. Rumble and Frenzy had told her that after the next season was over in addition to a possible movie, they, Soundwave, and their pets would not be returning in a third season if one was made except for a few small appearances. Frenzy did not want to be on the show again after his time was done and simply wanted to be a normal preteen, then a normal teenager. Rumble had started feeling the same way. Maybe then Mom and Soundwave might become an item, she thought. They were similar not only in life styles of being single parents but also seemed to like the same old TV shows such as Bewitched and The Waltons among other things. Of course, one never knew what could happen next...

December 21st, 1984

It was time for Christmas break and Colin and Mackenzie were both in a festive mood as they sang along to Christmas songs on the radio while wrapping presents for their friends. They had gotten out of school early today of course;; their mother would be home from work soon enough.

" **It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go. Take a look at the Five and Ten, glistening once again…** " The two siblings were singing when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Mackenzie ran to the front door and opened it. To her surprise, it was the mailman with a package from Hasbro. It was Annie though this time.

"We'll make sure she gets it." Colin said, taking the package and putting it under the Christmas tree in the living room.

After the mailman left, the two siblings went ahead and did separate things; Colin went to read while Mackenzie flipped through the TV channels for a while before turning off the TV in frustration; there wouldn't be any Christmas specials on for at least a few hours so she went to the kitchen to see where her mtoher had hidden the candy canes she bought the previous night.

She took out some toys to play with, so absorbed in her playing htat she almost didn't realize that her mother Annie had come home about half an hour later.

"Mom? What are you doing home so early?" Mackenzie asked when she heard her walking in.

"Well, Phil left to work at another studio so they're training the guy whose going to replace him this afternoon. I was allowed to come home now since I wasn't needed today." Annie smiled at her daughter as she said this. "Also, i will have Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day off just so you know."

Colin had come to the top of the stairs then down the steps fast when he heard this, feeling excited. "Yes! Does that mean we can go around and see what kinds of Christmas decorations are up around Toontown?"

"Yeah, I want to do that!" his little sister agreed.

"Calm down you two; I need to get changed first then we can do that and buy ingredients to make Christmas cookies." Annie smiled at her children then went to put on regular clothing. "Also, tonight we will watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas since I know we all love that special; we did record it last year." She commented to herself as she changed out of her greasy clothes and went to take a shower.

After her shower was done, the Toon mom put on her normal clothes and came downstairs. Colin and Mackenzie were ready too so all 3 got into the family car and drove around various neighborhoods, commenting on the Christmas decorations until they came to the grocery store to get cookie ingredients and stuff to make Christmas dinner in a few days. Then, upon returning home, they had dinner and watched some Christmas specials. They knew that Christmas Day was in 4 days and everyone was excited for it...

December 25th, 1984

It started out like any other Christmas morning with Mackenzie and Colin waking up early to get to their presents and open them. This year, their relatives had not come due to not having had the time to do so but the two would certainly call them later today. Then the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Annie went to answer the door.

To her surprise, it was Soundwave with gifts for her and her children. He had a Santa Claus hat on and Rumble and Frenzy were with him, wearing headbands that looked like reindeer antlers.

"Merry Christmas to all of you." The dark blue robot Toon said to the family.

"Thank you." Annie took the presents and set them down. Mackenzie and Colin immediately opened theirs and then went to play with Rumble and Frenzy in the backyard. It wasn't too hot and it wasn't too cold outside today so Annie took her present from Soundwave to the backyard, the latter following her and sitting down on the ground. There was still plenty of room for the kids to play despite him doing this thankfully.

The Toon mom then opened the gift slowly; it was a necklace that had a snowflake on it and two snowflake shaped earrings to match it. There was also a card with it, which Annie opened and read it.

 _To an amazing friend who knows how hard being a single parent is but still inspires me to be just as good as she is. We may not be perfect parents, even if our kids think otherwise, but we do our best and that's what's important. Merry Christmas Annie and may the new year give you many opportunities to be happy.-Soundwave._

Annie smiled as she put on the necklace and put the clip on earrings on her ears. She had never gotten her ears pierced since she didn't understand why someone would want more holes in their head than they already had but was glad that clip on earrings existed. "Sounwave, this is." She wasn't sure what to say since she was so overwhelmed by positive feelings. She hugged his leg. "It's beautiful; thank you."

Behind his mouthplate, Soundwave smiled. She had loved the gift; it had been hard to believe. Now, came the hard part. He hadn't been sure about asking her on a date but Optimus and Megatron had both told him to go for it. Maybe it would not lead to anything more but he should still not let the opportunity pass him by, Elita had said to him a few days ago.

It seemed so complicated to ask such a simple question though; as it turned out, by the studio contract's terms, Annie was not considered Soundwave's coworker seeing as she mostly worked in the garage rather than directly on the set of The Transformers. Thus dating was allowed to happen so long as they focused on work while on the job and saved the "lovey dovey stuff" as Mackenzie would call it, for outside of work.

So, he asked the question. "Annie, would you spend New Year's Eve with me?"

Annie was shocked. "Are you trying to ask me out on a date?" She blushed form her embarrassment.

"Yes." Soundwave was nervous about what her final answer would be, something one wouldn't normally associate with him, on or off screen.

"I would love to go on a date with you. It might hnot lead to anything else happening but it would certainly be a nice welcome break from normal life. Moonracer can watch Colin and Mackenzie after all. Frenzy and Rumble would probably be fine by themselvers, right?" Annie asked.

"They know not to throw parties when I am not home." Soundwave laughed, something he hadn't done in a long time.

They decided they would meet up with each other at 6:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve and then go out to eat as well as watch the Toontwon New Year's Fireworks display.

The 4 kids had been listening and Mackenzie had only one thing to say. "I told you they liked each other! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!" She said out loud to Colin. "And now they're going to go on a date!"

Rumble and Frenzy had also noticed it. They weren't sure what to think.

"Okay, okay, you were right for once." Colin sighed, resigned to the fact that he had been wrong.

"Mackenzie!" Annie blushed again, her cheeks turning bright red. While she didn't have a term for what Mackenzie was being at the moment, we in the modern day would call it a "shipper on deck".

Soundwave did a better job of hiding his embarassment. "I will see you on Monday." He said to Annie. Then he, Rumble, and Frenzy went home.

Once Mackenzie and Colin finished opening their presents and cleaning up the wrapping paper, they went to play with their new toys and Annie started making Christmas dinner. She also opened the package from Hasbro: a picture someone on staff had drawn of Optimusdressed as Santa Claus. She put the picture away and focused again on the food. This Christmas perhaps was better than last year in some ways. She hoped that the date would go well; what happened beyond that was another thing but she knew that taking the opportunity to try to date someone who she had more in common with may have been the best choice she had made so far...


	12. Chapter 12

Life changing events chapter 12

Author's note: Transitioning from year to year in this story in this chapter wasn't something I expected to do but I decided to do it every 12th chapter since that's what I have to do right now. That being said, I hope you enjoy reading about the New Year's Eve date in this chapter. Happy New Year to my readers.

December 31st, 1984

"Where in Chuck Jones' name is my purse?" Annie was panicking as she looked around the room. Moonracer had already picked up Colin and Mackenzie and taken them to her house half an hour ago at 5:00 p.m. Now it was 5:45 p.m., fifteen minutes before Soundwave was going to arrive and she wasn't quite ready yet.

She then saw that she had put her blue purse in the bottom of her closet in the bedroom. "Finally!" The Toon woman sighed with relief.

Having spent at least 2 hours getting dressed in a nice light blue dress, some white pantyhose, and black dress shoes she had not worn in who knew how long, not to mention a touch of makeup and brushing her hair, Annie felt ready for the date. She wondered whether Soundwave would arrive in time, what would happen during the date, etc. She knew her children would behave for Moonracer so she wasn't worried too much about that. Please, please, let this go well, she thought as she went downstairs.

When Soundwave had arrived and started walking towards the restaurant they would be eating at for their 7:30 p.m. dinner reservation with her, Annie had struggled to keep up a bit at first.

Then the blue robot Toon noticed this and asked "Would you like a ride?" He lowered his right hand to the ground for her to climb into.

"I would like that, thank you." Annie climbed onto Soundwave's hand and he slowly lifted her up as she held on to one of his fingers. She wondered if any other Toons had gone on dates where size difference was at least a little bit of a problem but quickly put the thought out of her mind and relaxed as her date continued to their destination, being careful not to drop her by accident.

"You look wonderful." Soundwave commented; he hadn't seen Annie dressed up like this ever but it seemed that she had picked the outfit she did simply because where they would be eating was a fancy restaurant most Toons wouldn't get to eat at unless they were movie or TV stars or had been invited there by one.

"Thank you." The human Toon woman visibly relaxed.

While he was not a telepath in real life, the blue robot Toon didn't need to be one to read people easily seeing as he had learned a little bit about body language during his free time via reading library books about the subject. He decided to take this as a sign that everything would go well tonight.

The subject was changed by Annie soon enough. "Are you worried about the press seeing us?"

"No." Soundwave had gotten used to the attention that came with being famous. The other members of his family did as well, even Frenzy who had now started to accept that being famous meant a lot of attention even though he would try to get away from it if at all possible.

Once they arrived at the restaurant, Annie and Soundwave waited patiently to be seated but didn't have to wait long; it seemed that the Toon rhino hostess had sons that liked The Transformers as far as favorite shows went and was able to seat them quickly.

Annie was still on Soundwave's shoulder as he sat down at a table. meant to accommodate someone his size. A smaller chair and a small table was placed on the larger one for Annie and both were given menus to look at. They had to take a few minutes to decide what they wanted.

"Maybe I'll have just one glass of champagne." Annie decided. She didn't want to overindulge.

Soundwave opted to have some oil to drink; when their drinks were brought out, he would decide to have a soup made especially for robot Toons to consume while the much smaller Toon woman opted to have a steak dish with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables.

"We'll have those ready for you soon." the waiter assured them as he left to deliver the order to the kitchen.

Once their food arrived, they ate slowly and were out of the restaurant by 8:25 p.m. Soundwave was carrying Annie in his hand again as they looked at the sights. Eventually, they arrived in Art Linkletter Park, the park that Mackenzie and Colin had gone to before, to take a stroll before returning to Soundwave's home. Rumble and Frenzy had opted to sleepover at Rewind and Eject's home and Blaster would be watching all 4 of them, not that they really needed it since all 4 of them were well behaved most of the time.

"Thank you Soundwave; this is a very lovely evening. And here I was thinking that it wouldn't go well." Annie commented as they arrived.

The blue robot placed the Toon woman on the floor and opened the front door for her to go in first. Once Annie was inside, Soundwave followed closing the door behind them.

Ravage came up to Annie and rubbed his head against her; he had gotten used to her, Colin, and Mackenzie occasionally being around and at the least tolerated them. Ratbat, Laserbeak, and Buzzsaw were staying away from her though for the moment.

Annie stroked Ravage gently. "yes, hello Ravage. I'm going to be here for a few hours to watch New Year's Rocking Eve with Soundwave." she told him.

Soundwave had turned on the television, keeping the volume low so that it wouldn't overwhelm his date and didn't have to wait long until Ravage left said date alone so that she could come and sit with him. Once she did, he allowed her to sit in his hand as they watched the celebration.

When a commercial break came on, Annie and Soundwave would talk about random subjects; among those subjects were their children, work, and goals they wanted to complete before 1985 was over. Both found themselves enjoying each other's company more than ever now and they wished each other a happy New Year as they saw the ball drop on television.

"Well, that's it. 1984 is done and it's time to see what 1985 brings." Annie said, yawning in the process. She was tired form having stayed up so late. At least she did not have to work until Wednesday.

Soundwave was tired as well but not quite as much. "Let me take you home please?" He asked.

"Of course; you're such a gentelman Soundwave and thank you again. I enjoyed our date." Annie answered, holding onto the robot Toon's fingers.

The single Toon mom was carried home by her larger date; he was careful to not step on anything by accident and once they arrived at her home, she got out of his hand. In a few more hours, Colin and Mackenzie would be brought back by Moonracer.

"Good night Annie; I hope to see you again soon." Soundwave said as he gently stroked her hair with one finger.

"Good night Soundwave and same here. I love your company." Annie blushed a little then walked toward the door. Once she was inside, she locked the door and went up to her room to sleep. This had been the best New Year's Eve she had ever experienced so far in her life and hoped that this whole year was just as good.

When he got himself home, Soundwave went to bed and dreamed of other things he could do the next time he could see the human Toon woman. He wasn't thinking too far ahead; relationships took time to form and there was certainly plenty of time to see what would happen between the two of them next, in between having to deal with everyday things and filming the second and much longer season of The Transformers...


	13. Chapter 13

Life changing events chapter 13

January 2nd, 1985

A whole new year and having to go back to school right away the day after it started. That's not fair, Mackenzie thought to herself as she finished eating up the cereal with marshmallows that she liked. She then went upstairs to brush her teeth while Colin finished his cereal and her mother Annie got herself ready for work.

The minute she finished brushing her teeth, she heard her mom call "Hurry up! The bus will be here in 5 minutes!"

"I know!" The black haired girl called back as she went to get her coat and backpack. It was cooler than usual today but still not cold enough to snow. "I wish Toontown was somewhere that had an actual winter; if it snowed, I wouldn't have to go to school today." She muttered to herself. Mackenzie put her coat on, took her backpack and lunch money, and walked out to the end of the front walk to her home with Colin not too far behind her.

"Look on the bright side; it's only 13 more days until your birthday." Colin said when he heard her muttering complaints about going back to school as they waited for the bus.

"I know and we both get to visit the set of The Transformers the Friday before. Boy, are the other kids going to be jealous, just like they were when we went to Los Angeles with Optimus a few months ago." Mackenzie felt much better at this realization. Of course, on Sunday she would be having her party on her actual birthday with her friends and family while on the day before, she would go with her mom, her friend Haley, and Mrs. Hound for a "girls only" day at the mall. It seemed so long until that would happen though.

The bus soon came and the two siblings got on along with the 2 other slightly younger Toon bunnies who also got on and off at this school bus stop. It would be a long day that was for sure.

In the garage at the Sunbow Productions studios, Annie and her 3 coworkers Leo, Tom, and Carl, were doing the usual checking over the stunt cars. Filming of The Transformers season 2 was starting tomorrow and the numerous vehicles and aircraft had to be 100% in working order. The day was only almost halfway over now and soon she would go to lunch.

"Anne White, phone's for you." Her supervisor walked up to her to let her know.

"All right." She got up and wiped her hands off as she walked towards her supervisor's office to talk on the phone.

It was the principal of Toontwon Elementary School, saying that Mackenzie had gotten into a fight, again. This time it was with another girl named Colleen, a fifth grade Toon human with red hair. Annie had to go to the school for a meeting and Mackenzie would have afterschool detention for the next few days as well as no recess.

"I'll be there soon." The Toon mom said as she hung up the phone. Why oh why did this kind of thing have to happen again, she thought as she explained the situation to her supervisor.

"Go ahead; we'll be waiting for you when you get back." he replied. Toontown Elementary School wasn't too far from the studio; only about a 15 minute drive there while it took 25 minutes to get to the White family home from the studio.

"Thank you." Annie went out to her car and drove to the school, dreading this meeting just as much as she had dreaded testifying about her husband's death last month. Thankfully, during the latter, she had been allowed to simply tape her thoughts about the whole thing and allow the tape to be broadcast in the court room and thus didn't have to actually be present but it had still been emotionally draining.

The meeting at school that she would have to be present for would be the same, even if it was to a lesser extent.

Mackenzie had glared the whole time as she had been given ice by the school nurse and had been bandaged up. It seemed that today was definitely turning out to be the worst day ever. Now, in the principal's office with Colleen, Colleen's grandfather, the brunette Toon girl was waiting for her own mother to show up and a few minutes later she did.

The principal, a Toon bear, explained what he did know and then the two young girls had each given their side of the story. Mackenzie claimed that the only reason she had started the fight was because of Colleen insulting Haley while everyone was heading back to their classrooms after the assembly that had happened that day and then Colleen claimed that she hadn't until Mackenzie demanded she tell the truth, after which the older girl did admit to the insults and to also insulting Mackenzie's family. Both girls would be punished though Colleen would be suspended as opposed to getting detention.

"We'll discuss this when we both are at home." Annie said firmly to her daughter.

"I don't want to." Mackenzie muttered; she would stay in the principal's office for at least 3 more hours until school was over and her detention for today would start.

"We will because I said so and you know better!" Annie left after shouting this. So much for a happy new year...

Later that day after Mackenzie had been picked up after finishing her after school detention, Annie parked the car in the metal car port and lead her inside. Colin was setting the table and had just finished as his sister and mom walked into the kitchen.

"Colin, take your sister's toys out of her room." his mother said firmly.

Once Colin had gone upstairs to do so, Annie turned to her daughter to lecture her. "I am very dissappointed in you for fighting in school again, especially with someone much bigger than you are. You could have been hurt much worse than you were today." She told the young girl, struggling to not let her anger get the better of her. "Violence is not the answer and I would have thought you would have learned that by now. You are to go to your room after supper and stay there to do your homework for each day you have after school detention. No TV until Sunday and you also are not allowed to go anywhere except school for the next 3 days. Colin will keep your toys in his room until then."

"it's all her fault." Mackenzie muttered. "I shouldn't have to do this."

"Don't talk that way with me, Mackenzie Elizabeth White!" Annie shouted as she put some TV dinners in the oven. "I thought you were raised better than that. What would your father think if he could see you now?"

"It doesn't matter what Dad would think!" Mackenzie shouted back. This was the worst day ever.

"I got all of Mackenzie's toys out of her room." Colin came back downstairs although he flinched a little when he heard her shouting.

Mackenzie was made to sit at the table and wait for dinner to be cooked. Then, when she went up to her room afterwards, she stomped up the stairs and slammed the door shut behind her.

"Mom, do you think you were too hard on Mackenzie?" Colin asked, worried about his sister.

"Maybe a little but she does need to learn her lesson. Make sure Haley knows Mackenzie can't play with her until Sunday." Annie replied.

Colin dialed the Hound family's number and Annie washed the dishes, wondering if just maybe she had been a little too hard on her daughter. Why did it have to be so hard to be a good parent? Maybe she would ask Soundwave for advice tomorrow; surely he had to have punished Frenzy or Rumble in a similar way and wondered if he had ever been too hard on them at some point. She would have to do that tomorrow during her break though...


	14. Chapter 14

Life changing events chapter 14

January 3rd, 1985

The next morning, Mackenzie did not speak to anybody as she got ready for school and got onto the bus with Colin. Annie left for work, wondering how she was going to explain to her daughter why fighting wasn't the answer most of the time. It was a question that would be on her mind all morning as she continued inspecting and checking over the stunt vehicles with her coworkers as well as when she went to eat lunch. Why did parenting have to be so hard?

"Annie? Are you all right?" someone asked.

The Toon woman turned around to see Soundwae sitting behind the table she had been heading to with her tray of food. She placed the food on the table and faced him. "No." She admitted, sighing from frustration. She explained about what had happened the previous day.

Soundwave listened; Rumble and Frenzy had also gotten into fights in school in the years before they had become TV stars and his lecturing them that violence was not the answer to real life problems most of the time.

"I know it will be tough to get her to listen." He said; Rumble had always wanted to try to get out of being lectured who knew how many times. "The best thing i can think of to do is tell her that you worry for her safety as well as whether she behaves well since she could have been hurt worse."

"I'll try. I just hope she doesn't try to run away or something like that." Annie shuddered at the thought. "Thank you for letting me talk to you though."

"You're welcome." Soundwave replied as Annie finished eating and soon returned to the garage. It would be a long day but this afternoon's talk would hopefully go well.

Much later that afternoon, Mackenzie was sitting in the classroom designated as being for after school detention. There were only a few other kids in there at first but their parents had already come to pick them up. Guess that means I'm last but not least, she thought to herself. She headed to the main office and saw that her mother was there, having just arrived then went outside with her.

"Hey Mackenzie, we do have a lot to talk about once we get home. you do know that, right?" Annie asked her daughter.

"Yes." The Toon girl climbed into the backseat of the Oldsmobile and put her seat belt on after putting her backpack on the other part of the seat that was not being occupied at the moment.

Annie got into the driver's seat after making sure all of the doors were shut and then put on her own seat belt and started the car, driving to their home.

When they arrived, both mother and daughter got out of the car, made sure they had everything out of it and that it was locked, then went inside the front door. Colin was upstairs doing his homework early after having spent some time playing outside by himself so now was the perfect time to have the talk.

"Mackenzie, I understand why you wanted to defend Haley but it doesn't excuse fighting in school." Annie paused briefly before continuing. "Don't think I don't love you because if I didn't, I wouldn't discipline you at all."

"I was thinking that I wasn't loved earlier." Mackenzie admitted. "I did apologize to Colleen though and we promised not to fight again since the decision to fight someone bigger than me wasn't the smartest."

"Well, that's certainly not true. I do love you more than anything else and I'm glad you realized how horrible the consequences of some choices are or could have been. I was worried when I heard about what had happened." The adult Toon woman hugged her daughter and held her close. "Ever since your father died, I've always been worried about you and Colin both and whether I can make sure both of you can know what should and shouldn't be done since one day, I will be gone too and won't be able to help anymore."

"It's not easy doing the right thing though." The young girl returned the hug.

"I know but in time, you'll know and I always have to remind myself that." Annie replied. She paused before saying one more thing to Mackenzie. "I think because you did apologize to Colleen and meant every word of it that you will only have to stay in your room for tomorrow and I'll let you play with Haley on Saturday, I'll have Colin put your toys back in your room on Saturday as well."

Mackenzie's face lit up and she began smiling today. "Yeah; maybe this year will be a great year after all and I can keep my resolution of being nicer to people even though I slipped up a little."

Annie smiled back at her daughter. "You go up and do your homework in your room; I'll call you and your brother down when I have dinner ready."

"Okay." Mackenzie went up to her room; this time, she didn't slam the door since she didn't feel like it. This weekend was going to be good after all...


	15. Chapter 15

Life changing events chapter 15

Author's note: I intend to slow down my pacing a little with the story since I want to describe things that happen on 2 separate dates as opposed to 3 each chapter since it's significantly easier for me to write that way. Also, I don't know when the next chapter will be written and posted; we'll have to wait and see.

January 15th, 1985

This past weekend, Mackenzie's birthday party had been held at the park and all of her classmates and her relatives had come. Optimus and Elita had not been able to attend due to having to go on a news show to be interviewed but at least Rumble and Frenzy had been able to come and give her a present; they had gotten her some Play-Doh since that was the first thing they could think of that she might like.

"Thanks guys; it's been a while since I've had Play-Doh to use to make stuff with." She smiled at them.

"No problem; you're pretty cool for someone much younger than us." Rumble assured her.

The party had gone well and on Sunday, she had time to rest. Now, today was Tuesday, her 8th birthday and the day she and Colin would get to visit the set of The Transformers. It was surprising that her mother and Optimus Prime had gotten others who worked at Sunbow to agree to it but it was happening and that was what mattered to Mackenzie.

Optimus Prime had actually written the note to get her and her brother out of school for that day and it said the following: "Dear Principal Smith, please excuse Colin and Mackenzie White from school today. They are visiting my co-stars and I on the set of The Transformers and will be learning about their mother's work behind the scenes of the show as well. I think it would be a good learning opportunity for in case they ever wish to work in the entertainment industry one day when they are older. Signed, Optimus Prime."

Now both siblings were in the back seat of the family care as their mother drove to the studio. Mackenzie was so excited she could barely contain herself.

"Hey sis, calm down. We're almost there." Colin said.

"i know. I just still can't believe we're getting to do this finally." Mackenzie replied, bouncing around in her seat a little bit.

Annie parked the car as her children waited patiently for the moment they could take their seat belts off. Once the car was turned off, everyone took of their seatbelts and climbed out, closing the doors behind them. Annie made sure she had her keys in her hand before the car was locked then the 3 of them went inside the garage.

"Whoa! This is amazing!" Colin looked around at all of the vehicles that were used on Sunbow Productions' cartoons, in particular the various cars used as stunt vehicles and stunt aircraft used for the stars of The Transformers. Both he and his sister watched their mother work for a while before Optimus came to the garage to get the two siblings and give them a tour.

"You're giving us the tour Optimus?" Mackenzie was surprised.

"I do not have any scenes to film today so I was told that I could do so." Optimus smiled as he slowly walked out of the garage so that the girl and her brother could keep up.

"That's great!" Colin grinned. This day was turning out to be great.

Optimus explained things about the others who worked behind the scenes such as makeup artists, set designers, writers, etc. Both siblings listened closely, very interested in hearing about this as they finally came to the set that was designed to resemble the inside of the Autobots' crashed ship turned base of operations.

"Mackenzie, what do you think?" Colin wanted to know.

His sister answered "It's just as impressive as it seems on TV."

The two siblings were then lead to the cafeteria for lunch after having seen the set that looked like the inside of the Decepticons' base. Of course this was when Annie was on a lunch break as well so that the 3 could eat together as a family.

Optimus was in another part of the cafeteria, chatting with his co-stars about some of the things that had been going on today.

"So they really like what has happened on the tour so far?" Bumblebee asked.

"Indeed; Mackenzie did declare that this was the best birthday she had ever had so far a few minutes ago." Optimus replied, smiling as he slowly drank some oil.

"I'm not surprised since she's wanted to do this for a while." Sunstreaker commented. He had slowly warmed up to everyone who worked behind the scenes and later today, wanted to apologize for his rudeness since that would seem to be one of the reasons why he and Sideswipe would get out of focus soon on the show, the other reason being introducing new characters and thus new toys for The Transformers toyline of course.

Everybody kept talking as Soundwave looked over to where Mackenzie and Colin were sitting with Annie, who was trying to get both of her children to wait patiently for the cupcakes that had been made for them to be brought out by one of the kitchen staff. he didn't join them though despite wanting to ask Annie about going on another date soon. That would have to wait until tomorrow seeing as more filming would be done today and that was going to keep everyone on the set of the Transformers, actors and behind the scenes crew members a like, very busy.

January 20th, 1985

11 more days until January was over. Mackenzie couldn't believe it as she watched her Saturday morning TV shows in the living room with Colin. The rest of her birthday a few days ago had gone well and much to her surprise, she and Colin had been able to watch some scenes from the last 10 or so episodes of The Transformers being filmed. The new season was set to premiere in Toontown on September 16th, 1985, a week before it's premiere in syndication on human made TV channels. According to Frenzy's explanation to Mackenzie when she had asked him yesterday, filming would be completed in about 2 weeks, then a break for the cast and crew for a month or so, and then another big project would be worked on while season 3 was also being filmed at the same time.

Mackenzie wondered what this big project was going to be but Frenzy wasn't allowed to give more details much to the Toon girl's disappointment. She began imagining what it could possibly be; maybe it was a movie or some more books. Who could say for sure at this point?

"Hey sis, Mom's getting that look that means 'go out and get some exercise'. We better go outside for a while." Colin said as he turned off the TV.

"All right." Mackenzie sighed and went to get her bike and helmet while her brother did the same. The 2 siblings got said helmets on when they got outside then took their bikes off the front porch and started peddling towards the Hound family's home. It was something they would be doing every weekend that they could since Rumble and Frenzy were too busy with publicity related things when they weren't filming The Transformers; the same case was true for Soundwave. Mackenzie began wondering if he would ever get time to spend with her mom again since it had gone so well the first time they had gone on a date. She would get her answer soon enough...


	16. Chapter 16

Life changing events chapter 16

Author's note: sorry this is ridiculously short. I am putting the story on hold for a while until I can figure out where else I want to go with it. That being said, I will not abandon this completely.

February 1st, 1985

It was Friday and Soundwave was relieved. Tonight Annie would bring over to Colin so that the young boy could sleepover with Rumble and Frenzy as they had been asking to spend time with him since they know would be able to. Filming for the second season of The Transformers would not be completed until sometime in March but at least they were getting time to rest; Soundwave and his family did not need to go anywhere to do anything publicity related tomorrow hence why he had said yes to Colin sleeping over.

Now he was at home after the long work day and getting regular food for Colin so that the human like Toon wouldn't starve. That was not going to be an issue as far the whole family of robots were concerned; Soundwave's home had a bathroom for non-robot Toons to use so that would not be an issue either.

"Hey Dad, how late can we stay up?" Rumble asked.

"Until 11:45 p.m., no later than that." The blue and white robot Toon replied to his son.

Frenzy didn't say anything; he just fond some of the Atari games he and his brother had recently bought and was eager to have Colin try them out.

Soon enough the doorbell rang; Colin had arrived with a bag of clothes for the next day, a sleeping bag, and a pillow. "My mom said to tell you hi and she's going to go and take Mackenzie to a sleepover at one of her friends' houses." He said.

Rumble took Colin's things and put them in the bedroom he shared with his brother. frenzy and Colin set up the Atari system and started looking through the games.

Soundwave waited until rumble had come back before telling them "If you need me I will be in my room." He then left the boys to play, knowing that it wasn't likely something bad would happened.

In the meanwhile, Mackenzie was being dropped off at her new friend Rachel Rabbit's home. Rachel had white fur all over her and much like Haley, didn't bother to wear shoes although she would wear shirts and skirts. Unlike Haley or Mackenzie, she did not have irises that had a specific eye color; just whites and black pupils in her eyes but like Haley, Rachel wore a hair bow on her head though it was purple instead of blue.

Mackenzie had met Rachel weeks ago, 2 days after her birthday trip to see the set of The Transformers, when she and Haley had noticed the Toon bunny eating alone and decided to keep her company. Unfortunately, Rachel was not related to old time cartoon star Roger Rabbit though she was used to people mistakenly thinking that she was.

Annie chatted briefly with Rachel's step father Robert and mother Roseanne before bidding everyone good bye and going home. Finally an evening for her to enjoy herself alone after not doing so far a long time.

The dark haired Toon woman had now returned home, locked her car after making sure she had her keys out of the car first and went inside her home. Both the front door and the back door were locked and she had the downstairs lights on while she got herself a bowl of pretzels to eat while watching a Friday night TV movie in the living room. While the movie wasn't bad in her opinion it wasn't very good either but there was nothing else good on at the moment.

Eventually she turned off the TV and turned off the downstairs lights, going upstairs to get ready for bed. Annie wondered what would happen now that there was a movie about the characters from The Transformers being worked on and whether she would have to work on the vehicles to be used for stunts in that movie. It would be way too much for her if that was the case. She would have to ask on Monday when the cast and crew had a meeting about it. For now, she had to put that aside and rest.


	17. Chapter 17

Life changing events chapter 17

February 4th, 1985

After spending Saturday cleaning once her children were back home from the sleepovers they had gone to, Sunday had been a day to spend time having fun. They had gone to play at the playground, then went to get ice cream in the afternoon before going home so Colin could watch a basketball game he wanted to see. Today, Colin and Mackenzie had gone to school on time and now Annie was at work in a meeting for crew members of The Transformers. She did her best to pay attention particularly when it came to discussing who could work behind the scenes in the upcoming movie.

"Annie, we will need your help with maintaining the stunt vehicles in the movie but only on days when someone from the normal crew can't come in due to illness or other cause. For now, just do your regular duties." was what was said to her.

The single mom was relieved; she wouldn't have to worry about Mackenzie or Colin being home alone during the evenings just yet. She knew when The Transformers ended its' run as a TV show, things would be different possibly but she wasn't thinking of that right now.

Later at the end of the day, she was driving home and briefly stopping at a gas station to fill up her car and buy some Valentine's Day candy for Colin and Mackenzie to taste test. Valentine's Day was in 10 days after all and they needed treats to bring to their classes' parties. She picked up a bag of conversation hearts candy and different kinds of chocolate bars inside the convenience store after the car's gas tank had been filled then went to pay for everything in one purchase. Then she drove home afterwards slowly but sure.y.

By the time Annie got back to the house, she saw that Colin was setting the table already and that Mackenzie was making sure the chairs were clean before sitting down in them. "Thank you; I'll be getting the chicken nuggets cooked momentarily." The Toon mom said.

"You're welcome Mom." Colin went to do his homework as did Mackenzie; neither had very much homework to do at the moment but they would find something else to do afterwards before dinner was ready.

Once their homework was done and dinner was ready, Colin and Mackenzie started eating and Annie did as well. Then the last of them made the announcement that she was not going to have to work any extra hours a lot thankfully.

"That's great Mom does this mean we could probably take a vacation sometime this summer?" Colin asked.

"Summer's a long way off Colin so we'll have to wait and see." Annie answered him. 'Although I suppose we could do a weekend camping trip when it's warm enough."

Mackenzie was not sure about the idea of camping; Colin on the other hand was excited about it and would now be counting down the days until that kind of trip happened.

March 1st, 1985

Spring was around the corner and Annie had gone on her Valentine's Day date with Soundwave weeks ago. Now she was going out with him again tonight and Mackenzie and Colin were going to stay at Optimus Prime's.

"We'll buy your birthday present tomorrow but you can't open it until next week, okay?" She said to Colin.

"I can wait until then Mom." Colin replied.

"I just can't believe you'll be double digits soon." Mackenzie sounded jealous of him.

"Yeah; maybeI'll live to be 100 years old and then I'll be triple digits." Colin liked the idea now that he had mentioned it.

Annie got the two of them in the car and drive to the Prime family home. Fortunately, both siblings had everything and she soon took the car back home so she could wait there for Soundwave. It was hard to be patient but she was and 15 minutes later, Soundwave arrived to find the Toon woman waiting outside for him.

"Hello Annie." Soundwave said, smiling at her.

"Hello." Annie replied, walking over to him.

The blue robot Toon offered her his hand to sit on as he had before. The Toon woman climbed on it and they began walking towards a small diner for a casual meal; that was what they had wanted to get tonight as opposed to anything fancy as had been the case on their first date. No doubt tonight would be very enjoyable no matter what they did.

"The diner is not far from here." Soundwave assured her once they had walked one block.

"That's great. I can't wait to try their food." Annie admitted.

Inside, they were able to get a table quickly in a section for really tall Toons and their menus and Anne immediately saw some kids go up to Soundwave to ask for his autograph. The kids were all Toon animals such as a dog, a turtle, and a fox. Counting a small robot Toon boy, there were 4 young fans of The Transformers.

Soundwave somehow wasn't inconvenienced by this as he signed some pieces of paper much to Annie's shock. Then again, he had been in the spotlight for several months now so she should not have been that surprised.

When the kids had left, the waitress for their table took their orders. Then when she had left to take the orders to the kitchen, Soundwave looked down at his smaller date and asked "Do you mind anyone else coming up to ask for my autograph? I know you wanted to be left alone with me."

"I actually don't mind. I think I can get used to it." Annie assured him.

Soundwave smiled and visibly relaxed. He knew it would not be easy for her being known for dating someone famous but he would see what happened next with his and Annie's relationship as time went on...


	18. Chapter 18

Life changing events chapter 18

March 10th, 1985

It was a peaceful Sunday and Colin's tenth birthday had come and gone 5 days ago. He wouldn't have another birthday that was a big deal until he became a teenager but he didn't mind that at all. Instead he was playing outside with his friend Henry while Hailey had roped Mackenzie into playing dolls with her. Mackenzie had only done it to make her friend happy although she didn't like having to put her tomboyish tendencies aside even for an hour or two.

The two person baseball game the boys were playing was going well until a ball hit the window of the back door.

"Colin James White, Henry Samuel Hound, what did I tell you about throwing those balls too hard?" Annie called from where she was working on replacing a worn out tire on her car.

"To not do that." Colin "I'm sorry Mom."

"Sorry Mrs. White. We didn't mean to." Henry added, looking down at his feet in shame.

Annie finished putting the spare tire on and got out form under the car. Once the jack was removed and the car back on the driveway, she told them "Please go clean up the broken glass. I have to change so I can measure that window and order new panes for it. Then Henry, you and Hailey will have to go home. I can forgie you but please do not do that again, clear?"

"Yes Ma'am." Both of the boys replied.

As Annie went inside to shower quickly and change into more normal clothes, she sighed. Sometimes things could be so difficult but at least this wasn't the worst thing that could happen. Once she was clean and in new clothes, she measured the back door's window with measuring tape and wrote down the measurements. Then she picked up the phone book and looked up the phone number of a local Toontown business that specialized in window repair and soon found it.

The Toon mom called the number and soon had an appointment for the next weekend for the panes to be replaced, much to her relief. It would cost enough that Colin would have to be punished by losing his allowance for the month but at least it wasn't too terribly expensive.

Once Hailey and Henry had gone home and the glass had been cleaned up, Annie made some pork chops for dinner with some rice and corn and had Mackenzie squeeze some oranges through a juicer to make homemade orange juice. Tonight's dessert would be Rice Krispy treats since those were easy to make.

After everyone had eaten and gotten things ready for the next day, both Toon children got ready for bed and Annie did the same thing. Fortunately, she would be going to dinner with Soundwave on Friday night and Moonracer would babysit Colin and Mackenzie again so that was something to look forward to. She remembered always having been told to try to look on the positive side during these types of things long ago and she still would do so now.

Then on Monday, March 11th, 1985 other things happened that the White family did not want to deal with. First, Mackenzie couldn't find her socks, then Colin had accidentally spilled the rest of the orange juice on the floor when he forgot to hold his glass still with his other hand. That had been nothing but then Colin had lost his toothbrush and by the time he had found it, Mackenzie had gotten on the school bus and it had already left without him.

Annie sighed and drove her son to school then sped off to work. This was one of the rare times that she drove like crazy similar to other Toons. She made it in time and headed to the garage to start her day.

At school, Colin had a horrible day. First, he had gotten knocked down in gym class while playing dodge ball, then he smacked another kid who kept poking him with a pencil and both he and said other kid were punished with no recess. Then at lunch, he accidentally spilled some milk on Jake Jaguar, who proceeded to try to throw a hot dog at his head but missed and hit a girl, Charlotte Chihuahua, a small dog like Toon who yapped insults towards Jake and three her sandwich at him.

Then Charlotte's brother Chase shouted "Food fight!" and food was thrown everywhere while Colin snuck off to get the principal and the lunch ladies tried to restore order.

Fortunately, the human like Toon was not in trouble for the food fight since he had apologized to Jake and had not participated in said food fight. That was the only good thing that had happened today.

Later when he and Mackenzie were running to get on the bus at the end of the school day, Colin's pants fell off, revealing his Transformers underwear and a lot of the kids were laughing at him wxcept for his little sister and best friend. One boy, a brown and white Toon goat named Garry, couldn't help but say the classic taunt when such a thing happened "I've seen London, I've seen France, I've seen Colin's underpants!"

"Come on Colin, we'll sit in the front of the bus so we won't have to walk past everyone who is laughing." Henry said.

The Toon human boy pulled his sweatpants back up and got onto the bus with his sister and friend. At least he was going home now.

Upon getting home and going inside, Mackenzie asked Colin "Want to play a game? The one Dad taught us where one person starts singing a commercial jingle and the next person had to guess the product it's for correctly?"

Colin hadn't wanted to play that game since his father died but maybe he could try. As painful as the memories were, he wanted to play it now. "I think we could. I would be able to forget how awful today was." He said.

"Great. I'm going first." Mackenzie started singing a classic jingle for Dr Pepper. "I'm a Pepper, he's a Pepper..."

That was an easy one for Colin to guess. So he started singing one that he thought would be difficult for his sister to figure out. It was the one about Almond Joy and Mounds candy.

The young Toon girl did guess it right. "See, I do know the difference between those two types of candy now."

"Oh come on I teased you one time on Halloween when you couldn't tell the difference due to the fact that you were four and couldn't read yet. Are you ever going to let that go?" Colin groaned.

"Maybe someday." Mackenzie replied.

They each took a few more turns before the phone started ringing and Mackenzie got up from the sofa.. "I'll get that!" She ran to the kitchen and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hello Mackenzie. It's mom. I'll be home a little late since I had to stop for gas and traffic is terrible. You and Colin need to do your homework; I'll make TV dinners when I get there." Annie replied.

"Okay Mom. See you when you get here. Bye." The young Toon girl hung up the phone and told Colin what their mother had said.

"Guess we will have to play more of that game tomorrow." Colin went up to his to to complete his homework; at least he didn't have a lot of it tonight.

Mackenzie sat at the kitchen table to do her homework and completed it just before her mother came home. Colin had also completed his homework and had come downstairs. Both hugged Annie, who hugged her children in return.

"Hey Mom, day did start badly but Mackenzie helped cheer me up." Colin explained.

"I had a rough day too but I'm glad to be home." Annie got 3 TV dinners out of the freezer and turned the oven on. "Your father did always used to say that just because one's day turned out terrible doesn't mean the next day won't be better. I honestly think that maybe he was right."

Mackenzie wasn't sure whether she agreed but she did know that her dad would not have wanted them to think his sayings didn't mean anything just because he was no longer there. That said, they were going to visit his resting place on Sunday and leave flowers like they always did every year. She did wish they didn't have to have that tradition though...


End file.
